The New "Role Model" for the Hip-Hop Generation: Dissecting the Hype to Locate Eminem, Slim Shady, and Marshall Mathers through Race Relations, Black Cool, Media Coverage, and the Search for Hip-Hop Credibility

Denise Fernandes Graduate Program in Communication Studies Department ofArt History and Communication Studies McGill University, Montreal

September 2002

A thesis submitted to the Facu1ty ofGraduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements ofthe degree of Master ofArts.

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Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS

AB8TRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 INTRODUCTION 4 CHAPTER 1: REFLECTING ON BLACK COOL: MUSIC, IDENTITY AND CONTROVERSY Il DISADVANTAGE BECOMES COOL 12 THE SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF HIP-HOP COOL 17 HIP VS. COOL IN BLACK MUSICAL FORMS 20 NORMANMAILER AND "THE WHITE NEGRO" 24 EMINEM AND HIP-HOP COOL 26 CHAPTER 2: EMINEM IN THE NEWS: RAISIN' HAVOC AND PLAYIN' THE MEDlA GAME 34 A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HIP-HOP MEDIA COVERAGE 36 ISSUES CONCERNING THE MEDIA'S COVERAGE OF HIP-HOP 37 THEY WANNA GROW UP TO BE JUST LIKE EM .42 THE MAINSTREAM SCAPEGOAT 45 THE 2001 GRAMMYAWARDS 46 SUMMITS, HEARINGS, AND THE FCC TARGET EMINEM 49 SEEING PAST THE HYPE: HIP-HOP/MUSIC MAGAZINES 52 CHAPTER 3: FROM INFINITE TO THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP: EMINEM'S SEARCH FOR HIS OWN HIP-HOP VOICE 57 HIP-HOP FROM LIVE PERFORMANCE TO STUDIO STARDOM 58 A VIEW OF "THUG LIFE" FROM STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON 59 OGs REFLECT ON THEIR MOTIVATONS AND DESIRES 61 SLIM SHADY EMERGES THROUGH EMINEM'S CHANGING STYLES 63 1996: INFINITE 65 1997 & 1999: THE SLIM SHADYALBUMS 69 2000: THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP 74 CHAPTER 4: KEEPIN' IT REAL IN A FANTASY WORLD: PERSONA, PARODY, AND PLAY IN EMINEM'S LYRICS 79 SHADY CREATIVITY TO MAKE IT IN THE RAP GAME 80 SLIM ATTACKS: EMINEM'S PARODY VICTIMS 88 HIS STAR STATUS 89 HIS STATUS A "WHITE" RAPPER AND A ROLEMODEL. 91 CRITICS, SOCIETY, AND PARENTAL NEGLECT 94 CONCLUSION 104 BIBLIOGRAHPY lOS DISCOGRAPHY 113 AB8TRACT

This thesis examines and analyzes the controversy around white rapper Eminem to inspect the way in which black and white theories of belonging function within an American context. The assumption behind the racial dichotomy that defines whites and blacks in oppositional positive and negative terms presumes that identity is structured along race stereotypes. This belief is evident in the differing responses to Eminem's affiliation with hip-hop culture and through the extent in which he employs hip-hop cultural forms, styles, and traits into his rap image. Although a popular mainstream artist, Eminem (and his "thug" Slim Shady alter ego) maintains his credibility within hip-hop circ1es by using elements of parody, play, and persona to depict his satirical views of American life. Finally, the systematic attacks against Eminem that label him as deviant are rarely levelled against other black rappers, exposing the different societal expectations that exist for whites and blacks.

Ce mémoire examine et analyse la controverse qui entoure le rappeur blanc Eminem dans le but d'étudier comment fonctionnent les théories d'appartenance des blancs et des noirs dans le contexte américain. Derrière la dichotomie raciale qui définit les blancs et les noirs en termes d'oppositions positives et négatives se cache la supposition que la notion d'identité s'établit selon des stéréotypes raciaux. Cette conviction est évidente dans les différentes réactions face à l'attachement d'Eminem à la culture hip-hop, ainsi que dans l'étendue de l'emploi qu'il fait des pratiques culturelles, styles et caractéristiques du hip­ hop dans son image de rappeur. Bien qu'il soit un artiste populaire, Eminem (et son alter ego délinquant Slim Shady) maintient sa crédibilité au sein du monde hip-hop en utilisant des éléments de la parodie, du théâtre et du jeu de rôle pour illustrer sa vision satirique du mode de vie américain. Finalement, les attaques systématiques contre Eminem qui le caractérisent de deviant son rarements dirigées contre les rappeurs noirs, démontrant qu'il existe dans la société des attentes différentes pour les blancs et les noirs.

2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS l would like to express my gratitude to Professor Will Straw for his guidance and patience while supervising this project. l would also like to thank Elsa Deland for helping me translate the abstract into French. My appreciation also goes to my family - my parents Joanita and Maurice and my Aunt Lena - for the unwavering support throughout my life and especially while l wrote this thesis. (A special note ofthanks to my parents, who were the perfect research assistants. Thanks for sending me aIl those newspaper articles!)

3 INTRODUCTION

Currently, hip-hop's musical and commercial successes are unparalleled by other sub(cultural) musical forms. Rap albums debut at the top of the BiIlboard music charts consistently and rap songs dominate the airwaves of popular music radio stations. Rap music videos are even among the most requested videos on music video television stations, such as Music Television (MTV) in the United States and Europe, and MuchMusic in Canada. Hip-hop clothing labels, such as Sean Jean and Enyce, are also among the most popular clothing labels for present day's youth. Moreover, hip-hop's cool, defiant attitude, which is also associated with overt expressions of manhood, is becoming a popular way of showing one's opposition to the values and morals of society's dominant group. This rebellious nature, disregard for societal conventions, and infatuation with everything taboo has struck a chord with youth who are searching for an outlet for their own feelings of anomie and distrust of authority figures. Not only is hip-hop cool more confrontational than previous forms ofblack cool, but it also best represents the negative stereotypes of blackness that have developed out of white privilege and rebukes openly the constraints that white society places upon black individuals. Thus, members of society's dominant group often view the elements of hip-hop culture as the basis for the increased resentment that white youth hold toward these conventions. Attacks on hip-hop culture are often launched based on a purported desire to protect the most vulnerable in society. Most often, these "innocents" are white children, whose increasing attraction to and adoption ofhip-hop's external elements, such as music and clothing, have become problematic for parents who fear the effect of the negative elements that are associated with blackness and hip-hop (for instance: rejection of white norms, violence, drug use, celebration of guns) on their children. Since the most weIl recognized members of the hip-hop community are rappers, they often fall under heavy scrutiny from political and cultural critics and have received special attention from groups (for instance, the PMRC, Parental Music Resource Centre) designed specifically to protect children from the corrupt nature ofrap music. The consumption ofhip-hop culture by white youth raises interesting issues about appropriation, (race) theories of belonging, and authenticity. Since hip-hop is a cultural

4 form that developed out of the ghettos and inner-cities, it is widely accepted that hip-hop speaks to and from a black ghetto point-of-view. In expressing trepidation over the influence of white institutional constraints on their lives, rappers often expose how these elements of the dominant structure exploit and restrain their rights. Moreover, thanks in large part to the impression left by white rapper Vanilla Ice, white hip-hop fans are often made to feel that their love of hip-hop is a mere fascination with the rebellious nature of the culture, than a "true" or "real" understanding ofwhat those e1ements represent. Thus, while white, suburban youth may enjoy "borrowing" elements ofhip-hop culture, they are perceived as not having a full understanding ofits underclass roots. The wholehearted embrace ofwhite rapper Eminem by his hip-hop peers and the utter loathing of him by the mainstream, dominant group in the US have made the enjoyment of hip-hop easier for white youth. Through his stylistic innovations, narrative and storytelling ability, and the way that his use of parody mocks the changes to his life and mainstream opinions ofhis lyrics, Eminem has established himself as a credible and "real" hip-hop voice. While his awareness ofthe issues surrounding his whiteness and his popularity make him a hit within the hip-hop community, it also makes him more well­ liked by suburban youth. Thus, Eminem has become an instant target of familiar hip-hop foes. Politicians, cultural critics, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have aIl accorded special attention to Eminem, claiming that his rhymes promote violence, scatology, and hatred. In this thesis, 1reflect on the ways in which Eminem produced and constructed his successful rap career despite possessing the racialized identity typically not associated with hip-hop. Traditionally, blacks are associated with the disregard for "normal" behaviour, while whites are heId up as representatives of purity, honesty, and goodness (Sartwell, 1998; hooks, 1992, and Mailer, 1957). Through associating himself with hip­ hop cultural forms, Eminem shows that this inflexible racial dichotomy in the US is not as clear a construct as America's political and cultural leaders describe it. Eminem's contributions to hip-hop culture as a whole are recognized widely as making serious and important changes to rap delivery and rap narrative. Most importantly though, since hip­ hop attempts to make visible and challenge the longstanding perceptions of race in the US, as a "legitimate" white hip-hop voice, Eminem questions the unyielding concept of

5 race in America. While it is c1ear that sorne of his lyrics are inflammatory, many critics overlook the context, irony, changes in tone, shifts in voice, and other intricacies that he employs to convey satire, comedy or during his parodie moments. Furthermore, as well­ respected members of the hip-hop community have acknowledged his ties to the underc1ass, Em's connection to the hip-hop community is based on more than just rap prowess. This incites further criticism, as those who attempt to vilify Eminem as a hateful, misogynist, homophobic thug are forced to confront their own concepts of race and belonging. 1 also inspect the issues around Eminem's popularity, devoting a significant portion to the tensions associated with his adoption of a black lifestyle (what this means for both blacks and whites), the criticism and embrace of him in various media sources, and how he works through the latter and the former in his personal responses to the controversy around his work. Furthermore, 1 examine how Eminem uses his underclass whiteness to create a distinct and unique rap method and thus avoids both the adoption of a distinct black style, and the negative response that is usually accorded white emcees. Thus, Eminem is able to distinguish himself from the legions of white people who wish they had been "born black." Through Eminem, the debates about authenticity, realness, and credibility within hip-hop circ1es have been revamped. Eminem's coolness is not dependant on exaggerated stories about his manhood on the streets; rather it is developed and maintained through the uniqueness of a style that shifts between Slim Shady's storybook fantasy world and Eminem's search for respect and identity in the tough hip­ hop community. Throughout this thesis, 1 employ a number of generalized terms to refer to the groups who criticize Eminem. 1 do so with guarded scepticism, since terms such as "mainstream," "dominant structure," and "dominant culture/groups" have long been dismissed from academia as oversimplifications of societal divisions. In as much as it is difficult to isolate a common link between these groups, aside from their dislike of Em, and since hip-hop now has distinct connections to "mainstream culture," 1 find it disconcerting to lump together such diverse opinions. As these views range from those of the black and white conservative c1asses (for example: C. Delores Tucker and Lynne Cheney), to those of the members of the underc1ass who feel hip-hop's endorsement of a

6 criminal underclass lifestyle promotes the negative stereotypes of their group, it also becomes problematic to label them as "political and cultural critics." To deal with this dilemma, 1 bOITOW from bell hooks' notions of how individuals in society relate to and sometimes perpetuate the white patriarchal supremacist structure (1994: 6). Regardless of our race, class, or gender, hooks argues that since sorne of us enjoy benefits due to our own privileged membership, and because of the way in which the dominant structure operates within society, we aIl react to the dominant structure in a similar manner. That is, because of their relationship to this dominant structure, sorne strata of society will "repudiate domination in one form while supporting it in another" (ibid. 6). Similarly, hooks argues that most attempts at censorship from within a community (i.e. blacks who support the censorship of hip-hop culture) lie in the marginalized group's desire to present a "positive" image to the dominant group (1994: 66). The desires ofthese marginalized groups, however, are often shaped by the opinions ofthe members ofthe dominant structure, who themselves use various sources (the media being the most widespread) to promote their opinions about hip-hop culture and their concems for the well-being ofgroups who are unable to protect themselves (i.e. children). Eminem's connections to notable members ofthe hip-hop community and the fact that he has reached the upper echelons of hip-hop respect in such a short time deserve serious attention. The white rapper from East Detroit has risen to become the biggest hip­ hop star in the world in only four years. Since his first major-label release The Sfim Shady LP (1999), he has dominated the pop and rap charts and has gained a reputation as an angry, violent thug with tight emcee skills. Driven by his sometimes gangsta alter ego Slim Shady, Eminem has become the newest target ofpolitical groups and cultural critics, who describe his work as potentially harmful to his fans and blame him for the degeneration of white youth. However, those who appreciate his skills and what he has brought to hip-hop, indicate that he offers a distorted vision of a white underprivileged life of poverty and brings attention to a condition that was thought previously to affect black youth only. Before going solo in 1996, Eminem, whose legal, govemment name is Marshall Mathers, rapped in several groups (Basement Productions, the New Jacks, and Sole lntent). His debut album Infinite (1996) was far from successful, inciting more criticism

7 than praise, since he was perceived as imitating the style ofother rappers and because he maintained a distance from hip-hop's street roots. However, Eminem's second independent release The Sfim Shady EP (1997) would make him into an underground star. He changed his style completely, shifting from a "positive rapper" to an angry, violent thug. In 1998, he recorded the underground c1assic "5 Star GeneraIs" on Rawkus Records with rappers Shabaam Sahdeeq, Kewst, Skam, and A.L, which helped him to establish a name for himself in the undergrounds of Japan, New York, and Los Angeles. It was his second-place finish at the 1997 Los Angeles Rap Olympics1 that eamed him a major-label deal with one of the best producers in the hip-hop, former NWA member Dr. Dre. The Sfim Shady LP (1999) hit quadruple-platinum status (four million albums sold)2 and won Eminem two 1999 Grammy Awards (best rap album and best rap song for "My Name is"). While The Sfim Shady LP helped Eminem skyrocket to fame and enlarge his fan base across the United States and the world, the no-holds barred poignant lyrics sparked instant controversy among Washington circ1es and with many other groups in society. With the release of The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), Eminem rose to even more critical acc1aim. To date, the album has been certified eight times platinum in the US 3 alone , eaming Eminem more mainstream success and creating even controversy than The Sfim Shady LP. With words and subjects that were even angrier, and a more critical view ofthe latent hypocrisies in society, The Marshall Mathers LP sparked numerous caUs for censorship and the still on-going debates on artistic responsibility. Despite aU of this, Eminem dominated the rap and pop charts and was nominated for four Grammys, winning for best rap album, best rap song ("The Real Slim Shady"), best rap duo ("Forgot About Dre" with Dr. Dre), and losing in the best overaU album category to Steely Dan's Two Against Nature. Ifthe Grammy Awards were not plagued with enough outrage from these nominations, an even more intriguing addition to the ceremony was the much­ anticipated performance ofhis hit single "Stan" with gay singer-piano player Elton John. Along with the unprecedented success of The Marshall Mathers LP came the controversies over his lyric content, hassles from the FCC and FTC, battles with the PMRC, and of course, the limelight on his family life. Eminem furthermore was nearly barred from entering Canada for his 2000 Anger Management Tour as Ontario Attomey­ General Jim Flaherty asked Canada's Immigration Department to prevent him from

8 crossing the Canada-US border. Flaherty felt that, since Eminem rapped about women and homosexuals with such disdain, he should be seen as promoting hate. While Canadian immigration officiaIs refused Flaherty's request since Eminem has not been convicted of hate crimes, it should be mentioned that the above is an extreme example of government officiaIs intervening in Eminem's music career. Most critics are restrained in their attempts to control his mobility, and instead try to appeal to his sense ofmorality and responsibility. However, this Canadian example stirs up further debate over caUs for censorship of hip-hop music. While the words of many other black rappers are just as inflammatory as Eminem's, they often escape the same levels of criticism. Thus, criticism of Eminem reveals that white men are held to higher moral standards than their black counterparts:

Just how controversia1 is Eminem, really? Nas rhymed that he went to hell when he was 12 for punching out Jesus Christ. If Tupac carried out sorne of the threats he made on records, practically ha1f of the hip-hop community wou1d have caught severe beatdowns. Biggie once rapped about sticking up pregnant women. Even the Jiggaman [Jay-Z] has soiled his manicured hands, narrating how he's sold more cocaine and busted more rounds of ammo than Al Pacino's heralded Scarface character. Yet, none have come under more fire for their records than Eminem. (Reid 2002)

Throughout this thesis, 1 will examine how the different standards for white and black men have affected Eminem's hip-hop career. In Chapter 1, "Refiecting on Black Cool: Music, Identity, and Controversy," 1 introduce black musical forms and their links with cool attitudes, examining how the changing idea of cool intersects with authenticity. SpecificaUy, 1 am interested in the expression of disadvantage as cool, the importance of hip-hop cool and street credibility for rappers, and how the use ofhip-hop's cool pose has different implications for white rappers. In Chapter 2, "Eminem in the News: Raisin' Havoc and Playin' the Media Game," 1 look at the on-going controversy around Eminem and the various censorship debates occurring in hip-hop and non-hip-hop media. More recently, Eminem's work has been at the centre ofmost ofthis coverage. 1 also examine the perception of musicians as role models and how Eminem manages to maintain his street credibility despite his increasing status as an icon for teens. 1 devote Chapters 3 and 4 to specifie elements of Eminem's work. Since much of this work is based on Em's responses to the ways in which his images have blown up in media and political circles, 1

9 discuss how, with the release ofsubsequent albums, Eminem continues to take his style to the next level. Chapter 3, "From Infinite to The Marshall Mathers LP: Eminem's Search for his own Hip-Hop Voice," is an introspective look at the evolution of Eminem's Slim Shady alter ego and the changes from his underground albums Infinite (1996) and The S/im Shady EP (1997) to the extraordinary success of his major-label albums The S/im Shady LP (1999) and The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). The emergence of Slîm Shady marks an important shift in Em's work that can be related back to hip-hop's roots and the importance assigned to street credibility. Finally, in Chapter 4, "Keepin' it Real in a Fantasy World: Persona, Parody, and Play in Eminem's Lyrics" 1 look closely at the specific elements of Eminem's major-label work that allow him to maintain this credibility. As the various elements ofparody, play, and persona, mixed into his real and fantasy worlds, make it more difficult to differentiate Em's "serious" work from his "humour" songs, Eminem often falls under constant attack from members of the dominant group who disagree with his opinions and depictions ofAmerican life. While the blacks-as-bad-whites-as-good race dichotomy is an unfortunate feature of American life, challenges to this structure of domination are evident in the escalating mainstreaming of hip-hop culture. Em's work has raised the ire of many individuals because of the ways in which he questions the validity of such constructions. Even when he does not do this with specific words or actions, since his personal experiences are more typical of a "black existence" than a white one, Eminem threatens the very foundation upon which American race relations were built. Eminem and other rappers often display a sharp-edged understanding of these race issues; however, they present their views in a highly confrontational manner that alarms members of the dominant group. Thus feeling impelled to "protect" the "traditions" of US culture, hip-hop and Eminem are often labelled as deviants. Through this scapegoating, we can conclude, though hip-hop is seen as promoting values that have bearing in the non-white world only, that its links to American 1ife continue to resonate within the dominant structure.

Notes 1 A copy ofthis performance is on Eminem's official website. 2 From the Official Web site ofthe Recording Industry Association ofAmerica (RIAA). 3 RIAA, ibid.

10 CHAPTER 1: REFLECTING ON BLACK COOL: MUSIC, IDENTITY, AND CONTROVERSY

Since its rise from the underground of American inner-cities in the early 1980s, hip-hop styles and rap music have become the standard of cool for youth. Due to the widespread adoption of such styles, rappers such as New Yorker Doug E. Fresh1 often echo the sentiment about hip-hop as "life"style that many individuals both in and out of the hip-hop community believe to be true. His views emphasize that although the appearance of cool is dependent on the visual, a cool attitude is something that cornes from within: "[Hip-hop] has to be from the heart. It has to be something that you live. It can't be something that you just come out and do" (in Kitwana 1994: 20). His comments also support the beliefthat hip-hop's distinct connections to a lower-class existence give its members a certain amount of"soul," a coolness, to which non-members are not privy, but which they often seek to obtain. With rhymes about their distrust for police, authority, and society, the vocalized elements ofhip-hop culture express the disdain ofyoung black males for the institutional practices of a society that sees no potential value in their contributions. As the messengers of such ideas, rappers have become a parent's biggest nightmare. They are rebels, but unlike those of previous generations, these dissenters have a cause: to expose the hypocrisies ofthe same members ofsociety that admonish the moral ambivalence ofblack youth. ln this chapter, 1 examine how the idea of"cool" intersects with race and how this idea continues to resonate within black American cultural forms. Ever since jazz, and later the blues, captured the imagination of whites for the purposes of entertainment, as black cultural forms, clothing styles, and attitudes have changed, so too has the definition of cool. From its evolution as a form of restrained resentment to an anger-ridden hatred, cool and race are now linked intrinsically to both style and attitude. Furthered by the recent wave of hip-hop stars, currently, the hip-hop "street thug" lifestyle has come to epitomize cool for youth. Through hip-hop, the attitude and style associated with blackness have been redefined and now involve violent tendencies and the display of extreme aggression. Although there are set standards for hip-hop cool, as with previous forms of cool, there is heavy importance placed on both individuality and showing that cool is an innate characteristic, rather than something that is derived from clothing

11 choices and hip-hop's physical postures. This form of cool, and the nihilistic attitude associated with it, first gained notoriety with members of the dominant structure during late 1980s because of gangsta rap's most prominent group at the time, Niggaz With Attitude (NWA). Since then, numerous other rappers have used this style to enhance their own hip-hop performances, such as 2Pac, Biggie Smalls, and even Vanilla Ice, the latter ofwhom is an example ofthe misuse ofhip-hop cool.

DISADVANTAGE BECOMES COOL

The rampant racism in society confines black youth within the unyielding and unfriendly limits ofthe inner-city, and thus restricts them to lives ofeconomic and social distress. For black youth, access to the formaI economy is limited to unskilled, tedious minimum wage jobs, and rejecting such jobs pushes black males to seek employment in illegal activities, resulting in their being labelled as deviants (Sampson 1997: 42). This behaviour that forms the primary basis for hip-hop cool is grounded in the culture of the streets and is linked with misguided, confused loyalties, racism, and poverty. Furthermore, it is often expressed through revengeful acts of vigilante justice wom like badges ofhonour, which have become an integral part ofinner-city youth culture. Rappers are the voice of this cool. Their cool is based on a defiance of "white" authority and the maintaining of a sense of detachment for societal norms. Boyd (1997: 31-33) defines the characteristics associated with this street or hip-hop cool that places status in the world ofthe underground economy, as defiance ofalmost everything; only in showing that he "rejects the mainstream even though he has a1ready been absorbed by if' (ibid.) can a rapper c1aim the traits associated with this cool. Connor describes "street cool" as that which defines the code of manhood for urban males. This is conveyed through three elements - experience, attitude, and ability for self-defence - and "is the stage ofcool that is angry, daring and impulsive. It is also the mode ofcool that deals the most in style and symbols" (1995: 19-20). While Boyd and Connor each assign different names to the new black cool, the traits they identify for it remain similar. These assessments are right in line with that ofPountain and Robins (2000: 152) who state that cool individuals, in dec1aring themselves to be such, state that they are non-participants and do not share, nor do they wish to be swayed by, the values ofstraight society.

12 While the majority ofrap artists tend to rise from disadvantaged backgrounds (be those circumstances financial, social, and/or political), which gives a sort of "authenticity" to their rhymes, the rapper's ability to demonstrate a connection to underc1ass beginnings still holds much importance in hip-hop culture. Embedded within the emphasis placed on rhyming skills is the ability on the part ofthe artist to re-assert an identity based on an underc1ass upbringing in spite ofa spatial dislocation from the inner­ city. Since established hip-hop artists can rarely demonstrate this connection through rhyming about their previous experiences ofpoverty, violence, and material deprivation, (since, after they have left these conditions, it is no longer deemed appropriate to "complain" about them) they often employa form of "cool." This allows them to utilize the full extent of physical postures, bodily and verbal language, c10thing style, and attitude to relay their disdain for mainstream conventions. It remains difficult to prove the underc1ass backgrounds of most rappers. As a result, rap music has re-adjusted, and although it is still important, proving a ghetto existence now receives less emphasis:

It is widely accepted that Rap is implicitly conjoined with spaces of urban poverty, existing as both a product and a legitimate voice of a minority teen constituency that is also demographically defined as a part of the social "underc1ass." Although urban housing projects and areas ofchronic economic depression do comprise major sites of Rap's production and consumption, Rap has evolved and the range of its influences has expanded, rendering its lingering status as "ghetto" music increasingly problematic. (Forman 1997: 6)

Cool, which codes blacks with the physical (sports, violence, sex, and dance) also addresses the dualistic conception of race that has corne to associate black Americans with primaI behaviours. While white Americans, who themselves feel the same scorn for the way in which those sarne social conventions are imposed upon their own lives also adopt forms of hip-hop cool, their actual understanding of hip-hop culture remains questionable. Since they may also be unaware of the motivations and reasons behind the use of this cool by black Arnericans, further questionable is what kind of attitude they hope to demonstrate through the adoption of hip-hop cool's external elements (i.e. blackness and hip-hop are often associated with negative emotions). However, the rejection of certain mainstream elements by rappers does not explain hip-hop's obsession with material possessions, the emphasis placed on loyalty, or

13 pro-capitalist ideals. Unlike the hippies of mid-century, hip-hop artists do not promote a lifestyle that disapproves of money and aggrandization. The opposite, in fact, is frequently true. Ironically, rappers uphold many of the values they are rebelling against, but include an additional twist since they pursue such values through "unconventional" means. As Terry Williams explains, in ms forward to Connor's What is Cool? Understanding Black Manhood in America, "unlike hip, cool is not against everything mainstream, is not about total disaffection, nor does it resemble a total culture ofrefusaI. Cool is an unexpected attitude catching the society off-guard and conquering defiantly with its own inimitable style" (1995: xiii). Because ofhip-hop's emphasis on the external, visual cool as a distinct black style, it is easy to accept any black wearer of the c1othes, with an attitude to boot, as a "legitimate" user of cool. Freccero however warns against seeing such an identity as giving anyone, regardless of racial affiliations, a real connection to hip-hop culture. Within commodity culture, demonstrating an external connection to cool often takes precedence over the internaI aspects of cool: "'Authenticity' and 'experience' are frequently invoked to provide a valid foundation for identity politics. Identity as such does not automatically guarantee a certain body of experience, and experience does not automatically attach itself to identity" (Freccero 1999: 63). The hip-hop pose is not something the wearer simply employs to be cool, but a style that is supposed to bear a connection to his life. According to Michael Eric Dyson, rap music is a result of the increasing social isolation that has occurred in ghetto communities in the past few decades. As the subjects ofrap narratives are usually derived from the rapper's first-hand experiences, rap also reflects the "human" side of c1ass divisions: "[this has] given rise to a form of musical expression that captures the ghetto existence" (1993: 7, emphasis added). For instance, in "Renagade" Jay-Z describes the continued influence ofthe ghetto on his life and music:

Motherfuckers say that l'm foo1ish; l on1y ta1k about jewe1s (b1ing bling) Do you foo1s 1isten to music or do you just skim through it? See l'm influenced by the ghetto you ruined That same dude you gave nothing; l made somethin doin What l do through and through and 1 give you the news with a twist; it's just his ghetto point-of-view

In speaking to and from a black point ofview, Fernando jr. (1994: 255) argues that rap

14 "captures and epitomizes contemporary black culture" and vocalizes life in the inner-city, thus making it a prime candidate for suburban youth who find their own lives to be dismal, boring, and void ofwhat they misconstrue as the excitement ofthe ghetto. Potter furthermore asks how the mix of black and white has intensified the politics of race in hip-hop. He explains that this mixing ofraces in music complicates matters outside ofthe music industry because it creates the illusion that whites are now more aware ofthe black struggle for survival under the constraints ofsociety when that may hardly be the case:

... white it is true that in a sense there is no unitary "black" subject position, that race is a social construction, and that in either biological or cultural terms, America has (and has long had) a profoundly "mixed" culture, it is also true that the economic, social, and personal mobility of Americans is increasingly disparate along lines ofboth race and class. (1995: 135)

In his ethnographie study of youth crime and employment in three inner-city boroughs ofNew York, Mercer Sullivan found that most inner-city youth who chose lives of economic criminal activity over employment in the formaI economy based much of their decision on the lack ofjob security, safe working conditions, and advancement in the legitimate work force. Most of the jobs available to these youth were off-the-books freelance jobs, which offered neither economic security nor stability (1989: 68). In addition, the police force, which enact a form of social control over the inner-city, are an additional barrier "defin[ingJ young men according to the prevailing master-status characterization of young black males, which interprets their youth, race, and gender as potential signs ofdanger" (Watkins 1998: 215). Black youth face the colour-code, which labels them as "dangerous and also authorizes the deployment ofmilitary-style tactics and technology as necessary for the maintenance of social order.... Sharp racial and gender coding devices shape the surveillance ofsociety's formaI institution of social control, the police, and other law-enforcement agencies" (ibid. 216). Black youth thus become trapped in what W.E.B. DuBois describes as two-ness, or the effect of the binary division of America on black Americans: "[Two-ness] describes the anomaly of American racial arrangements, which segregate black from white, discriminate along racial lines, and yet oblige Afro-Americans to assimilate the values of white America" (in Cripps 1995: 359). The failure of attempts to unite this "partitioned dualism" in the lives of black youth heightens the apathy ofinner-city youth

15 and further isolates them in the culture of the streets. Consequently, black youth are perceived as lacking strong social and moral values (since whites, by comparison, are upheld as the example ofmorality and goodness), which further encourage their "deviant" behaviours. As Robert J. Sampson (1997: 42) found, this social isolation in the inner-city forces black youth to adapt to the institutional constraints imposed on their opportunities for upward mobility:

In short, cultural influences in social disorganization theory stem from processes by which cognitive landscapes rooted in the dynamics of urban social ecology influence behavioural expectations. Community and situational contexts characterized by social disorganization and cultural isolation attenuate the existential relevance of mainstream values, and this process in turn facilitates diversity of values and a collective state of anomie and mistrust. These conditions provide fertile soil for the emergence of deviant patterns ofbehaviour that the community cannot effectively resist and that in time becomes rationalized.

Excessive police harassment, one of the foremost institutional constraints on blacks, is a constant issue on rap albums. Both the treatment of blacks and these observations from rappers incur what Mike Davis (in Watkins 1998: 217) coins as "blacklash" against youth criminality, where members of the black community themselves exert social control over black inner-city youth. Although Davis associates blacklash with the black middle-class, it can be related back to DuBois' two-ness. According to Davis, even though they may lead completely different lifestyles, the stereotypes of the black underclass are often transferred over to members of the black middle and upper classes. Despite living "decent" lives and following the dominating conventions ofsociety, these individuals continue to be judged and treated as criminals or as capable ofcriminal behaviour because oftheir racial affiliations. In order to show their complete disconnection from the black underclass, they thus engage in reverse discrimination and themselves identify black inner-city males as deviants, despite what their records (or more correctly, lack thereof) indicate about their character. The cool pose became a coping device employed by young African-American males from the inner-city and this "black dress" started to become symbolic of the deviance of the urban underclass. In hip-hop expression, one of the easiest ways of achieving this resistance is through the cool pose attitude that puts forth social disdain for the very institutions ofwhich the rapper has become a part. Described by Richard Majors

16 (in Beavers 1997: 257) as a dialectical phenomenon, the cool pose emanates from the way that black men have learned "to mistrust the words and actions ofdominant white people [and thus], black males have leamed to make great use of "poses" and "postures" which connote control, toughness and detachment."

THE SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF HIP-HOP COOL

The reliance on exterior clothing to depict this attitude makes hip-hop's cool identity a process that is revolving constantly. Today, "Sean John," P. Diddy's label, and "SDC" (Snoop Dogg Clothing), two successful hip-hop labels that many other rappers also use, have, by association, become cool, but who can say how long this williast? Ifin an instant, either Puff or Snoop do something to shake the foundation of their coolness, youth who yearn to be considered cool would be forced to shed those labels just as quickly as they exchanged their Levis for Tommy Hilfigers in the early 1990s. As Potter (1995: 131) explains, due to the emphasis placed on getting the right look, the constant changes that effect "who's "in" and who's "out," and the instant commodification, "[s]ubcultures ... while collectively aware oftheir appropriate and intermingled roots, are no less anxious to reinscribe the boundaries between "us" and "them," between "those who know" and "those who don't." When rapper Showbiz (in Fernando jr. 1994: 255) reiterates the statement about hip-hop made by rapper Doug E. Fresh, used at the beginning ofthis chapter, he suggests that hip-hop's external use of language and clothing creates an us/them culture: "It's like a way of life. This is a culture, so look at us. See how we are? It's the way we dress, the way we talk, the way our state ofmind is, the things we do. This is how we can relate" (emphasis added). AlI of these elements to which Showbiz points combine to play an important role in the rap artist's career. For black rappers, the cool pose is an inherent part ofwho and what they are and has come to be considered as an innate aspect ofblackness th~t black artists merely resurrect. Choosing to employ the cool pose overtly will not affect the black hip-hop artist's career in a negative way; in fact, it may be just the opposite case. Those who do not use this cool are sometimes deemed "soft" in the collective eyes ofthe hip-hop community. One need only look at the careers of black hip-pop rappers MC Hammer and the

17 Fresh Prince (who now raps under his legal name Will Smith) to see how instinctive the cool attitude has become for black rappers. MC Hammer's rhymes and style did not display any connection to the hip-hop style of cool, and now, sorne 10 years after his success, most members of the hip-hop community view his contribution to hip-hop in negative terms. Despite a unique style, Hammer's catch-phrase rhymes fell more on the pop side of the musical spectrum. His songs did not reflect on hip-hop's more common subjects of poverty or inner-city violence; nevertheless, his music appealed to young teens that were more interested in the latest dance craze than in social issues. Furthermore, Hammer did not have any hip-hop realness to back up his style and was therefore seen as a pop rapper, rather than a hip-hop star with popular appeal. On the other hand, when Will Smith rapped under the moniker Fresh Prince, he exuded the cool pose. Backward caps, baggy jeans, and a hit song reminding teens that "Parents Just Don't Understand," combined with his push to have the Grammys televise the portion ofthe award show that honoured rap categories, made the Fresh Prince and his partner, DJ Jazzy Jeff, sorne the biggest boosters of hip-hop culture. However, now as Will Smith he chides "harder" hip-hop artists regularly for their language use and content and has watered-down his own style, donning western wear for "Wild Wild West," and rapping about the beaches of"Miami." These changes have not had a negative impact on Will Smith's rapping career. Unlike MC Hammer, he maintains his successful pop-rap career and, since becoming a solo artist, he has had two multi-platinum albums. While Smith contends that these changes to his career reflect the personal changes in his life (he is now a husband, a father, and a successful actor), for the hip-hop community, he is more solid proof of the negative result of the mainstreaming of hip-hop: "acts such as Fresh Prince, later Will Smith, pulls cultural production into the mix which for many ... means the sanitizing of rap's expression of urban realities, resulting in sterile hip-hop that, devoid ofits original tire, will offend no one" (Dyson 1993: 8). For white rappers, the attempt to fuse attitude and style is much more controversial. Even before white rappers can start their careers, their decision to use or not use hip-hop cool brings forth a number ofissues. Since hip-hop cool is a pose against the mostly white middle-class standards that limit blacks, white rappers must not only demonstrate rapping skill but must also justify their reasons for using this cool. As with

18 black rappers who choose not to use cool as a part of their rapping image, this decision can beget either favourable or unfavourable responses from those in the hip-hop community. For instance, to date, rap music's biggest white acts have been Vanilla Ice, the Beastie Boys, and Eminem, aIl of whom have employed different styles and ways of using cool. While the Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice are complete opposites when it cornes to the use of cool, Eminem, rap's biggest commercial success story, employs this aspect in a different and more complex manner. First, the differences between the Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice add interesting insight into the cool pose and the negative or positive effects for the careers of white rap artists. Vanilla Ice's attempts to appear black both in style and lifestyle failed and were unappreciated by the community, especially when it was revealed that he was in actuality raised as a member of the middle-class. Thus, his use of the cool pose backfired; and, after his claims ofunderclass youth were proven false, he became an "uncool" poser who did not have a firsthand understanding of the underclass existence. Vanilla Ice employed hip-hop cool to a tee; his use was refined, unflawed, and lacked spontaneity, which may have been the problem. His cool did not appear as an innate quality since it lacked the ruggedness ofother rappers. Furthermore, he was seen as someone who misused hip-hop culture for personal financial gains, and as such was someone who did not understand the social, political, and cultural roots ofthe style and attitude. The complete disregard for hip-hop conventions is precisely what glves the Beastie Boys a form ofauthenticity in the hip-hop community. The white group members did not pretend to share or understand the experiences of black rappers and the constant references to their suburban whiteness are what play an important and contributing factor to their continued success in the hip-hop community (Sartwell 1998: 171). The Beastie Boys found cool in an unrelentless rebellious punk-attitude against their parents, who were often portrayed as people whose morals and values would not allow the young Beastie Boys to have any fun. In addition, the Beastie Boys often made fun of their own interest in hip-hop, indicating that coming from "good homes" was the exact circumstance that pushed them to seek an oUtlet through hip-hop culture. While far from the epitome of hip-hop cool, their awareness of their appropriation of hip-hop culture offered them a higher standing in the hip-hop community than Vanilla Ice. This level of

19 awareness, and their rebellious stories about wild parties and skipping school ("Fight for y our Right"), gave the Beastie Boys something that Vanilla lce did not have in his hip­ hop perfonnance: an individual approach to rapping. While this may have not been as "real" as that ofblack rappers, their individual style gave them their own kind ofhip-hop authenticity. For Eminem the use of cool brings together entirely different issues. His underc1ass upbringing during the 1980s in the tough black neighbourhoods of East Detroit, absent father, and dysfunctional relationships with his mother and his now ex­ wife make him a prime candidate for using hip-hop cool. Since he was also schooled on the lyrics ofLL Cool J, NWA, lce-T, and the Beastie Boys, Eminem demonstrates a keen understanding of the culture. Eminem's c10thing choices, attitude, and stylistic devices are all indicative of hip-hop cool; however, he is not seen as misusing black culture like Vanilla lce. lnstead, he appears to understand that cool is not something that can be picked up for the purposes ofhip-hop perfonnance. These personal inner-city experiences fonn a large part of his rap narrative, but as a white person who had a similar childhood to many other black rappers, Eminem approaches mainstream fears about hip-hop in a different manner because, as his childhood and his current popularity show, the culture influences suburban youth just as much as urban youth. Furthennore, Eminem's rap style demonstrates that he still respects the hip-hop's traditions of "street credibility" and gangsta rap. Through his alter ego Slim Shady, Eminem adopts many ofthe same traits that are usually reserved for black males, such as nihilism, distrust of women, and open defiance of authority. Shady's aggressive, violent tendencies and attraction to guns, allow Eminem to inc1ude an aspect of a thug narrative in his rhymes and acknowledge that this "posturing" is fictional. As Shady is an alter ego that he created in response to the initial negativity to his whiteness from some members of Detroit's rap underground, Slim can also be seen as having developed out ofMarshall Mathers' childhood, Eminem's early rap career conditions, and the social, physical, and financial conditions that link his personas to the "black existence" ofDetroit's inner-city.

HIP vs. COOL IN BLACKMUSICAL FORMS

1 will reassess Eminem's use of hip-hop cool in more detaillater in this chapter,

20 but first, 1 would like to examine the intermingling ofrace, cool, and music and how cool moved from the subdued anger of blues singers to the full out hostility of rappers. Furthermore, given the social conditions that allowed hip-hop music to flourish, redefining it as the expression ofresistance toward an oppressive c1ass situation could be seen as a contentious approach. Arguments put forth by Tricia Rose, however, allow for sorne movement where subcultural expressions are concerned. Rose's argument that style and gestures can be seen as oblique challenges to structures ofdomination, allows for the cool pose to be seen as a communicative form of deviance from social norms. She also argues that hip-hop's c10thing styles offer a critique of c1ass distinctions and social hierarchies by creating an external oppositionality and further sees these trends in direct relation to the severe conditions ofthe urban areas from where they have sprung: "[a]s an alternative means of status formation, hip-hop style forges local identities for teenagers who understand their limited access to traditional avenues of social status attainment" (1994: 38). The hip-hop style, however, has become symbolic of the deviance of (black) youth from social norms. According to Anderson, hip-hop culture is related to the code of the streets, the visual style of which allows black men to assert their manhood on the streets:

The code revolves around the presentation ofthe self. Its basic requirement is the display of a certain predisposition to violence. Accordingly, one's bearing must send the unmistakable if sometimes subtle message to "the next person" in public that one is capable of violence and mayhem when the situation requires it - that one can take care of oneself. ... Physical appearance, inc1uding clothes, jewellery, and grooming also plays an important part in how a person is viewed; to be respected, you have to look right. (1997: 18-19)

A key e1ement to hip-hop's cool pose is thus the propping up ofself-image. Through the cool pose the wearer is able to send messages that are contrary to the supposed calm and rational behaviour of most members of society's dominant group. This potential for violence is demonstrated through a physical appearance and the stereotyped style ofdress that are associated with the streets and the gangsta lifestyle, (for instance: over-sized c1othes, bandanas, chains, and bomber jackets) that convince members ofthe mainstream that the wearer is someone to fear because ofhis potential gang affiliation. While Kinshasa defines this disregard for social norms and mores as a part ofthe

21 inner-city youth culture, he also argues that the c10thing and language style that came to be seen as evocative of a criminalized lifestyle are now associated with black inner-city youth, social deviance, and the outright rejection ofthe dominant and mainstream culture (1997: 292). Potter, who explains that the attitude of social resistance becomes more difficult as the rap artist becomes more popular, also argues that:

Subcultural resistance, never more so than with hip-hop, must continue to stage itself as relentlessly uncompromising; its codes and modes of action move in a way that is both vemacular (generated on the most local level of speech, acts, dress and sound) and spectacular (seizing the means of representation in order to interrupt "our regularly scheduled broadcast"). (1995: 132)

Street or hip-hop cool "emerged from a desperate need for guidelines conceming maturity that incorporated the strange challenges of street life, or life without the tools of American traditional manhood, of a life where life itself is the only thing you possess that's of any value" (Connor 1995: 20). This is where we can link cool and violent behaviour. For black men, manhood is not determined by the same standards as for their white counterparts. Black men are unable to find steady jobs, thus their ability to provide secure lives (both financial and physical) for themselves and their loved ones is limited. Since they have little else, cool has become the "most basic method of determining manhood" (ibid. 1). While previous forms ofblack cool were based on a personal fashion sensibility and the concealment of one's disdain, hip-hop cool is derived from sporadic anger. Rather than remaining "calm" under stress, cool was based on "wildin' out" (attacking) others. Coolness, therefore, could now be c1aimed based on the seizing of another person's cool, be that through the stealing of c1othing, manhood, or lives. As a person cannot dec1are himself cool if he has been beaten (physically or otherwise), the appearance of toughness is essential to cool manhood on the streets, since it will "alert" potential attackers of the wearer's coolness. Thus, in order to sustain a stronghold on a cool characterization, it became important to maintain an air ofimmunity that would send a c1ear message: my cool is not up for grabs. In Cool Rules: Anatomy ofan Attitude (2000) Pountain and Robins address the changing notion of cool in American cultural contexts. In taking the concept ofcool back to the restrained defiance of African slaves brought to America against their wills, they note that the subcultural origins ofcool allow for it to be defined as a "rebellious attitude,

22 an expression of a belief that the mainstream mores of your society have no legitimacy and do not apply to you" (ibid. 23). A key aspect to cool is an "ironie detachment" (ibid. 26) that allows cool individuals to conceal their feelings by appearing unfazed by the situations they face (for instance, impending physical harm) and yet maintain their attachment to other elements of society. For instance, hip-hop youth may reject many values of "straight" society, but their actions also show support for materialism and capitalism. Specifically on the cool attitude, Pountain and Robins say:

Cool is an oppositional attitude adopted by individuals or small groups to express defiance to authority - whether that of the parent, the teacher, the police, the boss or the prison warden. Put more succinctly, we see Cool as a permanent state ofprivate rebellion. Permanent because Cool is not just sorne 'phase that you go through', something that you 'grow out of, but rather something that if once attained remains for life; private because Cool is not a collective political response but a stance of individual defiance, which does not announce itself in strident slogans but conceals its rebellion behind a mask ofironie impassivity. (Ibid. 19, emphasis original)

According to Pountain and Robins, "[t]he cool aesthetic was honed during the early part of the twentieth century by those descendants of Africans ... who deployed cool as a body armour against the discrimination, patronization, and neglect they experienced from the mostly white-owned entertainment business" (ibid. 41). Previous forms ofcool emphasized a calm demeanour in the face of adversity; strength was found in reserved nature and the suppression of anger. With hip-hop, cool became different. Gone were the days of masked defiance. Strength was now found in the outright expression of anger, usually through violent means involving guns and gang-related activity. Cool moved away from covert celebrations of sexuality and defiance: "[d]espite a veneer ofrevolutionary, anti-police talk, this hip-hop attitude was perfectly in tune with the '80s pursuit of fame, money, and sex by 'whatever means necessary'" (ibid. 110). Coolness, therefore, was found in the ability to "wild out" sporadically, sometimes without 'just cause" and, unlike before, value was seen in the vocalization of inner-city street codes, rather than veiling conformity through "peaceful" means ofprotest. Gangsta rap, in rejecting openly the Black Nationalism and Afrocentricism of message rap, steered rap audiences away from the more positive and unifying cool of message rap (Boyd 1997: 39). As "white and black listeners [became] drawn to this surly form of urban apostasy, fashionable deviancy, and stylized outlawry" (McLaren 1999:

23 25) message rappers were cool no longer. Instead, given the new fascination with violence (especially from white youth) and with songs about beating on 'hos, bitches, and niggas, gangsta rap became the newest way ofrebelling against the values ofthe previous generation (Pountain and Robins 2000: 110). In relating cool to jazz and blues singers of the 1940s and 1950s, Pountain and Robins discuss how the moral ambivalence (for the norms and mores ofthe society at that time) that was displayed by performers and is now employed by rappers, appeals to white teens but is problematic for parents. Their suggestion that cool can be seen as a defence mechanism against white oppression does not come without a warning: "[t]his defense does not come free ofcharge and this moral ambivalence is its price: a suburban middle-class teenager may have nothing materially in common with a slave in a levee camp, but psychologically, they share the sexually confused, passive-aggressive tone of the blues" (ibid. 45). Pountain and Robins are thus able to associate notions ofcool with (black) race: "by the '50s whites wanted to be cool too" (ibid. 41) and began to adopt selects parts of the black lifestyle - music, clothes, and attitude - to express their own distaste for the morals ofprevious generations. Blackness, however, was not the only cultural form whites employed to confront society. The "hippies" ofthe 1960s dressed in brightly coloured ethnie styles and adopted Buddhist, Hindu, Indian (Native and South Asian), and Afghan ways of life as a counter­ cultural approach to show that "even though they were not excluded from capitalist affluence, they chose to reject it in favour of something more egalitarian and 'authentic'" (ibid. 74). In adopting race styles, cool individuals could claim to have more of an authentic cool to the leather jacket and motorcycles that were associated with the cause­ less rebellions ofthe James Deans and MarIon Brandos. While the hippie style was more "hip" than "cool," (possibly because it was primarily a white phenomenon) it was still based upon notions of authenticity: "[t]o be Hip one had both to acknowledge this repression, and to oppose it by dressing and living in an approved manner: sympathetic middle-class liberals might pass the first test [dressing properly] and thus be described as cool, but they failed the second [living in an approved manner]" (ibid. 75).

NORMAN MAILER AND "THE WIDTE NEGRO"

In his pivotaI 1957 essay "The White Negro," Norman Mailer pondered the

24 intersections between white youth, black race, and cool (Mailer substitutes the term "hip" for cool). He explored the heightened white interest in black cultural forms and, in a conclusion that speculates on the future ofthe hipster, Mailer could even be interpreted as prophesying the rise of gangsta rap. He warned that ifAmericans (and American society) did not make room for aIl facets of American life, induding black cultural forms, and if the social, psychological, and moral crises around blackness would not be resolved, blacks would find more confrontational ways of expressing and showing their resistance to their exclusion from society. 1 believe that this is an important point so 1 have quoted Mailer at length:

Since the Negro knows more about the ugliness and danger of life than the white, it is probable that if the Negro can win his equality, he will possess a potential superiority, a superiority so feared that the fear itselfhas become the underground drama of domestic politics.... With this possible emergence of the Negro, Hip may erupt as a psychically armed rebellion whose sexual impetus may rebound against the antisexual foundation of every organized power in American, and bring into the air such animosities, antipathies, and new conflicts of interest that the mean empty hypocrisies ofmass conformity will no longer work. A time of violence, new hysteria, confusion and rebellion will then be likely to replace the time ofconformity. (1957: 16)

Relating hip to the black experience during that time (which is similar to contemporary images of urban ghettos) Mailer discussed how imperviousness to violence and family and job security were unattainable for blacks because of the stereotypes that were associated with them. These assumptions controlled every aspect of their lives, causing them to search for ways to express real aspects of their personalities. Despite attempts to integrate into society, black males were denied access to nearly every aspect ofAmerican society on a systematic basis. Black males therefore leamed the tough lesson that their contributions to society would always be undervalued. Thus, "hated from outside and therefore hating himself, the Negro was forced into the position of exploring aIl those moral wildemesses of civilized life which the Square automatically condemns as delinquent or evil or immature or morbid or self-destructive or corrupt" (ibid. 9). In realizing the futility of their attempts to convince whites of their morality, Mailer suggests that blacks conformed, gave in, and made these "uncivilized qualities" a part oftheir existence:

Knowing in the cells of his existence that life was war, nothing but war, the

25 Negro (aIl exceptions admitted) could rarely afford the sophisticated inhibitions of civilization and so he kept for his survival the art of the primitive, he lived in the enormous present, he subsisted for his Saturday night kicks, relinquishing the pleasures of the mind for the more obligatory pleasures of the body and in music he gave voice to the character and quality of his existence, to his rage and the infinite variations ofjoy, lust, languor, growl, cramp, pinch, scream, and despair ofhis orgasm" (Ibid. 4)

Those who dare to live their lives by these same standards are the courageous few, or the American existentialist, whom Mailer also refers to as the hipster. White hipsters were attracted to the way in which black males disregarded social conventions for instant gratification, and those hipsters who were not familiar with the black lifestyle borrowed only se1ected elements in their pursuit ofthe black existence:

One could hardly maintain the courage to be individual, to speak with one's own voice, for the years in which one could complacently accept oneself as a part of an elite by being a radical were forever gone. A man knew that when he dissented, he gave a note upon his life which could be called in any year of overt crisis. No wonder then that these have been the years ofconformity and depression. A stench of fear has come out of fear has come out of every pore of American life, and we suffer from a collective failure of nerve. The only courage, with rare exceptions, that we have been witness to, has been the isolated courage ofan isolated people. (Ibid. 2)

Jealous ofthe "freedom" ofthe black lifestyle, hipsters were those white people who saw desegregation for what it really was. They were Ha new breed of ... urban adventurers who drifted out at night looking for action with a black man's code to fit their facts. The hipster had absorbed the existentialist synapses of the Negro, and for practical purposes, could be considered a white Negro" (ibid. 4). However, as with the warning heeded earlier by Carla Freccero, Mailer alerts his readers about inauthentic hipsters: to be a "real existentialist" one must really feel and explore the roots of their existential philosophy (1957: 5-6). Hipsters must be aware of how and why society has evolved as it has, and what political, social, and economic changes in society have meant for blacks in America. While one may not be able to relate personally to these experiences, it is important to sympathize through a level ofunderstanding marked only by the "dedicated hipsters."

EMINEMAND HIP-HOP COOL

Eminem's emergence onto the hip-hop scene has created an interesting dilemma for the hip-hop community. Eminem could be seen as the American existentialist as

26 Mailer defines it, a dedicated hipster, or as he is often labelled (wrongly, in my opinion) a wigger. Wiggers are those white individuals who adopt with the images depicted in rap lyrics and videos but do not identify with other aspects of blackness (I say more on wiggers later in this chapter). As cool is classified as a rebellious attitude against the norms and values ofsociety, and because one ofthe key aspects ofhip-hop cool is rooted in the hard urban environment and lower-class existence, Eminem has the personal background that would allow him to use hip-hop cool successfully. Like the rappers before him, Eminem bases much of his own cool on his attitude toward the dominant groups in society, adopts a detachment from society, and, through his lyrics, shows his opposition to pressures from the dominant structure. For instance, he describes his attitude toward society on "Just Don't Give a Fuck," one ofhis first hit singles:

So when you see me on your block with two glocks Screamin' "Fuck the World" like Tupac Ijust don't give a fuuuuuck!!! [...) So put my tape back on the rack Go run and tell your friends my shit is wack l just don't give a fuuuuuck!! !

Through lyrics such as this, it is possible to see mirror reflections of the Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice in Eminem's rhymes. It might be easy to conclude that he only employs a spirit of punk rebelliousness (like the Beastie Boys) and identifies with the negative aspects of blackness through his own street-based antics (like Vanilla Ice). However, as I have indicated, Eminem does not use these features of rap alone. He also directs sorne of his anger toward those people who refuse to see him as a "real" member of the hip-hop community and propose his whiteness as a reason for exclusion. In many of his songs therefore Eminem discusses the ways in which negative attitudes towards white rappers restricted and restrained his own career in the hip-hop community: "Sorne people only see that l'm white, ignorin' skill/Cause I stand out like a green hat with an orange bill/But I don't get pissed, y'all don't even see through the mist/How the fuck can I be white? I don't even exist" ("Role Mode!''). Considering Nelson George's (1998: 55) assertion that though "hip-hop's values are by and large fixed - its spirit of rebellion, identification with street culture, materialism, and aggression - it is also an incredibly flexible tool of communication, quite adaptable to any number of messages," Eminem's word choices in "Role Model"

27 take on an interesting meaning. While insignificance and non-existence are usualIy the reality of black struggles, Eminem could be seen, here, as describing the trials and tribulations ofpoor whites and that of white emcees. Since poverty is usualIy associated with blackness, Eminem's poverty (and that of other white people) does not usualIy get the "attention" it deserves. Furthermore, Em can also be seen as voicing the concems ofa white existence in hip-hop. Eminem's message differs greatly from the traditional messages from black rap artists about police abuses ofpower and racial-profiling, but it is delivered in such a manner that Eminem's "non-existence" is related to the urban black experience: his rap skilIs are ignored, in a manner that recalIs the dismissal of young, black job-seekers. Just like sorne individuals who are identified as criminals by sorne members of society because of their skin colour, Eminem's race makes him an instant target for criticism from hip-hop traditionalists, although this criticism is a different kind. While most in the hip-hop community have embraced Eminem openly, one ofthe more serious issues he raises touches on issues ofappropriation. McLaren (1999: 48) sees the white interest in hip-hop in more positive terms because "rap music ... invades the white world and steals white kids ... [and] teaches white kids about racism and power.... [H] supplies white youth with an alternative vocabulary in which to articulate their rebelIion against the parental authority structure." On the other hand, belI hooks sees this fascination with blackness as a sign of white privilege, contending that white kids who want to be black "'see' blackness and black culture from a standpoint where only the rich culture of opposition black people have created in resistance marks and defines us" (1992: 158). This can be related back to sorne of my earlier discussions of two-ness (DuBois), blacklash (Davis), and Mailer's assertion that blacks began to engage in behaviour that explored the so-calIed "innate" qualities that were assigned to them. AlI four scholars criticize a singular view of blacks. Much of the black middle-class's frustrations with black youth come from the fascination with the blackness which has been popularized by hip-hop culture, and which ignores other blacknesses: for example, that ofthe middle and upper-classes and the lower-class who live within the means ofthe law. Because most whites do not understand the historical and social conditions behind the rebelliousness associated with blackness, their adoption of such cultural forms is misplaced and misused.

28 hooks' (1992: 157) critique of Madonna's use of black culture can be applied to Eminem equally: "ifpeople ofcolour do not have equal access to cultural production on a mass media scale, then representation is always a representation by the other, a 'speaking for someone else,' a ventriloquizing that silences those represented." Thus, while sorne see the promotion of black images in popular cultural forms as positive, others see Madonna's portrayals negatively since they do not promote a "connection" to blackness. Instead, this kind of fascination turns blackness into a desirable object: "the thing about envy is that it is always ready to destroy, take-over, and consume the desired object" (ibid. 157). Freccero offers an alternative view, which is equally critical. She does not dispute that sorne representations of blacks by outsiders are negative and exploitative (Vanilla Ice), but at the same time, she reiterates that simply being black does not give a person the right knowledge to use black cultural forms. As my own summaries of the careers ofboth Fresh Prince and MC Hammer suggest: "it is important to realize that the identity of the cultural producer will not necessarily guarantee the production of 'good' representations" (Freccero 1999: 63). The concerns bell hooks expresses about white fascination turning the negative stereotypes of blackness into a desirable object, however, are legitimate and deserve further consideration in relation to Eminem and the impact he has had on hip-hop and the music industry at large. Before Dr. Dre signed Eminem, hip-hop music's popularity was nowhere near the levels it has reached at the time ofmy writing this chapter. The murders of 2Pac and Biggie Smalls, two of its biggest and most talented stars in the mid-1990s, had practically destroyed the hip-hop industry. When Eminem burst out of Detroit's underground, hip-hop was looking for a star who could match the skill-Ievel of 2Pac and the presence of Biggie Smalls, and since his 1999 breakthrough album, The Sfim Shady LP, it could be argued that Eminem has filled those voids. In fact, one could also argue, (although 1 am uncertain about where to find valid proof in favour of this) that Eminem contributed to the heightened interest in rap music. That he is regarded as a hip-hop megastar, and is arguably the music geme's only "credible" pop-star, could be seen as status that is available only to Eminem because he is white. We might also consider the ways in which Eminem makes it easier for white, suburban kids to listen to rap music. White kids might have felt sorne uncertainty about

29 listening to Snoop Dogg or Ice Cube, two black rappers whose concems do not have a personal connection to their lives and are somewhat foreign to them, but Eminem is white - just like they are. Since he raps about the resistance to accepting whites as true hip-hop fans and states that white people can enjoy hip-hop just as much as people ofcolour, the fan's issues are his concems and vice-versa. To his credit, Eminem acknowledges that his widespread appeal is due in part to his whiteness, which offers him a unique position in hip-hop. Even though Eminem's rhymes often stress the fact that despite appearances, his childhood experiences and life as a struggling rapper differentiate him from most of his fans, he is still aware ofthe connections between his whiteness and success:

The fact that l'm white is probably the reason that 1 sold double the records 1 should have. l'm not saying anything different than any rapper has said, NWA or lce-T. l1's just that when a white face is saying it, these white kids connect with it. 1reached into them homes ofmiddle America because white kids, not to say they should or shouldn't have, looked up to me and connected with me because they looked like me. (Parker 2002: 118).

It is too easy to discredit Eminem's high record sales on the basis of his colour. Since Eminem's success, a number of white rappers have emerged and (in the case of Vanilla Ice) re-emerged on the hip-hop scene, and not one of them has come close to matching what Eminem has achieved. Bubba Sparxxx, who was recruited and produced by Timbaland (producer for Missy Elliot and Aaliyah), is probably the most recognizable among this recent wave of white rappers. He made a splash with his first single "Ugly" but, since then, really has not had much of an impact in rap music. On the other hand, Bubba Sparxxx relies on a working-class, Southem white-trash appeal (the music video for "Ugly" was distinctly Southem, featuring pigs and tractor racing), rather than coming across as an urban thug. White and Cones III (1999: 109) explain why Eminem's appeal is greater than that of Bubba Sparxxx: "[these kids] can vicariously pick up a slice of what is passed on as authentic blackness without interacting directly with Black homeboys in the inner-city. In their cars, they can hear the blasting rhymes of the Black ghetto without going near it." Todd Boyd offers an interesting way of assessing hip-hop cool in relation to insiderloutsider status. For Boyd, hip-hop cool is characterized by defiance of the restrictive dimensions of the status quo by "truly disadvantaged" products of the ghetto and the urban environment's underground capitalist economy (1997: 31-33,40). Thus, he

30 makes the argument that blackness can be a state of mind with which all oppressed individuals can identify: identification with blackness is therefore based "on the extent of [the] association with 10wer-c1ass African-American existence." As Freccero (1999: 63-4) points out, this criterion of belonging that see blacks as the only "true" disadvantaged strata in society becomes contentious:

the commonsense notion ... is that an outsider's representation will be a misrepresentation, that is, it will be inaccurate and distorted, whereas an insider's representation will be true and accurate.... To assume automatically that an outsider's point of view is inaccurate or wrong is to buy into the notion ofculture as something that no one 'outside' it can understand.

Manifested through the cool pose, the hip-hop style of dress seizes and deploys such negative stereotypes of 10wer-c1ass black urban youth within the mainstream. As Sartwell argues, one of the most effective ways of overcoming the American racial dichotomy is to meet it head on, to make it visible as often and in as many locations as possible (1998: 160). As an outright rejection ofthe dominant culture, this style can also seen as a dismissal of the values that are associated with the dominant culture and as a signifier of the stereotype of black of deviance: "[t]he criminalized urban youth is then identified and labelled as the sponsor of innate violence. Their c10thing style, language use, radios, body language, and what is assumed as their general disregard for social norms and mores becomes a part of what is defined as 'inner-city youth culture' " (Kinshasa 1997: 292). Similarly, as Bruzzi (1997: 107) states:

Black dress has traditionally become defined as symbolic of opposition because it offers a visual challenge to the dominant white c1ass of dress and openly defies, through its studied opulence, the social position a racist society has allocated its black community. In this sense, the complexities of black street c10thes signal a social fissure and a desire to affirm and articulate racial identity.

Dick Hebdige (in Bruzzi 1997: 109) argues that the hip-hop style is a way of reconstructing blackness in opposition to the (white) normative culture, while Kinshasa (1997: 292) further sees this style as an outright rejection of both the dominant culture and the values and traditions that are associated with it. The hip-hop style has become symptomatic of opposition to the dominant and normative culture, regardless of the race of those deploying it: "black culture has become representative of the alternative culture in opposition to mainstream norms" (Roediger 1998: 358). These assessments thus open

31 up space for Eminem and other poor white people who feel the same disdain for the normative culture that keeps them locked into a life of poverty. However, as McLaren (1999: 47) explains, it is not so much that whites are borrowing black culture, but that most tend to borrow select parts ofit, usually the elements that portray blacks in negative terms, without obtaining any knowledge ofthe roots ofthose elements. Wiggers, as the newer generation of these individuals are called, tend to identity with the violence, scatology, and sexism contained within rap lyrics, rather than relating to the positive elements ofblackness. They are seen as leaning toward the primaI views of black males that are now more pronounced than they were during the blues and jazz eras, when whites were attracted to the soulfullness ofblack music and culture (Roediger 1998: 361-2). Roediger examines this through theories of cultural hybridity in the US, and concludes: Hybridity, in a highly unequal society, has as often been the product oftragic, tawdry, and exploitative forces as of romantic ones. Whether we judge the beauty and solidarity created by the crossing of cultural color lines in the interstices ofracial capitalism to outweigh the associated slights and tragedies is on one level immaterial. The process goes on, superficially and at times deeply. If to abdicate studying it were only to abdicate understanding that mythical thing called "white culture," the consequences would be bearable. But such an abdication also entails giving up on understanding American culture and African American culture, the latter having as one ofits essential elements the ability to borrow creatively from others and to create hybrid forms.

Robin D. Givan sees wiggers in a positive light. Arguing that the crossing ofculturallines should never be seen in negative terms, especially given the racial dichotomy in the US, Givan believes that wiggers can actually help to improve race relations because they attempt to understand and relate to "what makes sorne African Americans groove" (Givan 1993: 1-D). Thus, Givan concludes, "crossing culturallines ris] ... a lot more stylish than anything you can buy offthe rack." The racialization of cool is linked to the hip-hop lifestyle, which itself is defined by street credibility and an oppositional attitude that are ground in a culture of violence. While previous forms of cool emphasized a form of inhibited resistance, hip-hop cool with its emphasis on gun, gangs, and the inner-city lifestyle, has made the expression of rage cool. White youth, intrigued by hip-hop cool's preoccupation with violence, have fallen for hip-hop cool just as their parents' generation fell for the cool in Shaft, and their

32 grandparents, for the cool ofjazz and blues perfonners. For whites, black fonns of cool mark opposition to the expectations (ofparents, church, schooling, and the pursuit ofthe "American dream" of family and financial security) that they are often forced to follow. Thus, the use of black cool is more than an expression of youth rebellion. It can be seen as a way of expressing concem for situational and institutional processes that limit the potential of black youth. The white adoption of hip-hop cool is a constant reminder that no matter how many restraints are placed upon it and its creators, black culture will usually capture youthful imaginations.

Notes 1 Doug E. Fresh is the New York rapper recognized as the original human beat box and is the individual who popularized the use ofvoice as a hip-hop instrument.

33 CHAPTER 2: EMINEM IN THE NEWS: RAISIN' HAVOC AND PLAYIN' THE MEDIA GAME

It's al! about interpretation ofthe lyrics. .. , The media gets bored very easily and every now and then they need somebody to talk about. For a minute it was Marilyn Manson, and every time you opened a magazine or turned on the TV it was like, Fuck Marilyn Manson! He worships Satan and he 's not a good role modelfor kids and blah blah blah. 1 don 't understand this concept that everybody making music has to be a positive role modelfor kids. -Eminem1

Whether it is John Lennon protesting against the Viet Nam War, the Rolling Stones' open drug use, Elvis Presley's gyrating, lower-body movements, or the aggressive postures ofNWA, it seems that musicians are often blamed for the disrespect shown by children towards the standards of"straight" society. While a rebellious attitude is not essential to a performer's success with young fans (as is obvious with the chart­ topping successes of bubble-gum artists), a disconnection in attitude and style will only increase the appeal for youth who are looking for an external out1et for their own discontentment. The appearances of such attitudes, and the kind of open, in-your-face rebellion that appeals to younger, white children, makes musicians the instant targets of political, cultural, and media critics. Consequent1y, black musical forms, such as blues, jazz, and current1y, hip-hop (which, during the heights of their popularity, became the "standards" of deviancy in US society) have come under the attack of members of these various groups, who fear that their children are vulnerable to the purported insubordinate attitudes ofthese musicians. Thus, Eminem's assessment ofthe media, albeit simplistic, is an adequate way of examining the heavy scrutiny most musicians face because of the messages they are perceived as sending (subliminally and explicitly) to young listeners. Rappers are the most recent artists to gain the attention of political and cultural critics. With rap songs that promote criminal activities and "getting yours" by any means necessary, hip-hop culture has raised the ire of the dominant groups that fear rap's potential to influence new generations ofchildren. This deviant attitude is essential to the hip-hop image. The majority ofrappers are young blacks and this attitude is derived from the negative reception of black males from non-black members of society. Thus, rather than accept exclusion passively, black males take control and separate themselves from society before this can take place without their control. This distance from the dominant culture may be expressed in a number of ways, such as the rapper's adoption of a stance

34 which is "cool" but nevertheless does not appear as that of a "poser." Cool, for gangsta rappers, is any trait that promotes the appearance of a criminal or gangbanging lifestyle. Unfortunately, these "criminal" activities have also come to represent all ofhip-hop, thus characterizing the whole culture in negative terms. The real-life criminal activities of sorne rap artists aside, hip-hop culture tends to be vilified by those sources that are seen to represent the dominant culture, such as daily newspapers and news magazines. While hip-hop culture does have its own media sources, the most well-known of which is The Source, treatment of hip-hop in news-related magazines and mainstream newspapers tends to maintain hip-hop's "outsider" status, seeing it as contrary to the values of the "real" or normative c1ass. Thus, while each media source interprets rappers through their defiant stances, their respective views on hip-hop culture remain opposed. The hip-hop and music press pass judgement on rappers who have been absorbed by the values of society; consequently, rappers who maintain a rebellious disconnection from societal conventions are not only more respected, but are praised for such attitudes. The mainstream press also view hip-hop artists as oppositional, despite variations in their attachment to social norms, but oppositionality is cast in negative terms. In this chapter, 1 examine how these conflicting interpretations produce and challenge the image ofEminem's Slim Shady persona. While each medium has a unique way ofinterpreting Eminem, his music, and the subjects ofhis raps, there is a tendency in music and hip-hop media to see beyond the controversy that has been created through coverage ofhim in other media and a preference for examining Eminem's skills and what he brings to hip-hop. A familiar pattern, wherein rap music cornes to be blamed for the degeneration of white youth, persists to the present day. This not only contributes to the myth making of Em's personas, but is also grounded within the stereotypical "deep­ structure binaries"z through which hip-hop culture has always been evaluated. Even though journalists are now becoming more familiar with hip-hop, media sources rarely concur in their interpretations of rap lyrics, the impact of the actions of rap artists, or the value of hip-hop's culture in general (hip-hop media can be inc1uded here). Moreover, despite the slight erasure of the boundary between hip-hop culture and that of the dominant structure, rap is still interpreted by many as an oppositional force that provides the alienated with an expressive outlet for their concerns. As a result, rap's middle-c1ass

35 white fans are seen as rebelling against the values of their parents' generation; and, hip­ hop itself becomes what McLaren (1999. 25) calls "fashionable deviancy" which tums the demonization ofhip-hop culture into a positive attribute.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HIP-HOP MEDIA COVERAGE

Ever since hip-hop began to gain the attention of youth outside of the inner-city, media coverage of hip-hop culture and its artists has been a divisive issue. As rap often attacks the dominant culture for the limits it places on members of the underclass and for activities that are contrary to acceptable nonns, hip-hop culture, in tum, tends to generate a lot of negative attention from most media. Rappers now face even more of this kind of attention, since hip-hop music is reaching a fan base outside of the confines of the inner­ city. Those individuals who have appointed themselves as society's "protectors" often voice their collective concems about what they perceive as the ill effects ofhip-hop music and culture, calling upon rap artists to write lyrics more responsibly since it is mostly white children who are consuming their products. Julia Elkund Koza (1999) and Patrick B. Hill (1999) each conducted individual studies of the early media coverage of hip-hop culture and rap music. 3 Upon completion of their research, both Hill and Elkund Koza arrived at similar conclusions conceming the media's understanding of hip-hop cultural fonns. For instance, each found that hip-hop/rap articles appearing in non-music-related sections were usually more negative when covered by city or national news staff (Hill 1999: 103 and Elkund Koza 1999: 71). Furthennore, another finding in Hill's and Elkund Koza's results was articles that equated blackness with "bad" because it encompasses everything that whiteness does not (i.e. blacks are short-tempered and aggressive, hence whites are calm and peaceful).4 Whiteness now becomes "good" because it is the polar opposite of the "bad" associated with blackness: "[r]ap's appeal to whites rested in its evocation of an age-old image of blackness: a foreign, sexually charged, and criminal underworld against which the nonns of whiteness are defined, and by extension through which they may be defied" (Samuels 1991: 25). As Hill (1999: 104) describes, this kind ofvilification of blacks, and ofblack males especially, is due to the need to explain social ills. In defining blackness as an undesirable Other, cultural and political critics are thus able to define the traditions (and

36 cultural fonns) associated with blackness as likewise undesirable. This differs from previous "othering" theories because "consuming the 'other,' in this case listening to rap music, [becomes] a transgressive act, perfonned in defiance of dominant white nonns" (Elkund Koza 1999: 89). bell hooks examines this kind of Othering in tenns of the commodification of Other (1992: 25-6). Through appropriation and commodification, the primitive notions of blackness become the "standard" to which whiteness is compared. This kind of Othering makes blackness more exciting and dangerous (ibid. 26) and, as indicated above, suggests that whiteness, in comparison, is safe, reliable, and unthreatening. By extension, rap music, which is usually seen as the primary means of expression for young African­ Americans, becomes contrary to the moral standards set by society's dominant group. These efforts to vilify blacks and blackness, Hill argues, can be used to gain a greater understanding of how "anxieties at the nexus of race, class, and generational difference continue to animate the story world ofAmerican social relations" (1999: 104). hooks (1992: 25) has also argued that rap music is a way ofexamining Otherness in relation to the alienation felt by the (young) listener: "[mJasses of young people dissatisfied by US imperialism, unemployment, [and] lack of economic opportunity ... can be manipulated by cultural strategies that offer Otherness as appeasement, particularly through commodification." As Stallybrass and White (1986: 200-01) argue, this kind of transgression can be seen as a reversaI or a counter-subliminal attempt to unravel discourses of domination, undoing the hierarchies set by the bourgeois society, and thus challenging the dominant power relations. According to hooks, however these transgressive acts may appear, they do not empower the Other. In Black Looks: Race and Representation she argues that negative stereotypes ofrace groups are reinforced because race becomes commodified for pleasure, which "constitut[es] the culture of specific groups, and the bodies of individuals, as an alternative to the dominant and nonnative culture" (1992: 23).

ISSUES CONCERNING THE MEDIA 's COVERAGE OF HIP-HOP

Hip-hop, as the most commodified black cultural fonn, becomes viewed in negative tenns because of this emphasis placed on it as an Other. Rappers, and the

37 subjects of hip-hop music, have become vulnerable targets5 within African-American culture; the protection ofFirst Amendment (free speech) rights has thus becorne the focus of African-American political/cultural issues. First Amendment issues for black musicians receive such significant media coverage that they have come to be seen as the only issue of concem for blacks; the focus on censorship of hip-hop music thus keeps black Americans in a perpetuaI defensive mode. As a result, due to the heavy emphasis that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) place on music censorship, other more pressing issues conceming blackness, such as three strikes laws, attacks on affirmative action policies, mistreatment ofthose living in poverty, and education rights take a back seat to the fight against censorship (Wright 2002: 104). However, hip-hop media also tend to devote more energy to freedom of speech issues. As The Source focuses primarily on the contributions that rap artists make to hip-hop culture, the rights of those artists to express their opinions freely would be an important issue. The problem is that sorne hip-hop activists are devoting so much energy to the protection of rappers that the rights ofothers in the hip-hop/black community may be overlooked: "[wJe need a political platform that addresses the multiple attacks that have been levelled against our generation" (ibid. 104, emphasis added). Such censorship attempts send c1ear messages to hip-hop's young (black) listeners who feel a connection to rap lyrics: 1) their feelings on poverty, social and institutional racism, and deprivation are not important enough to remain on the social agenda, 2) their opinions are harmful to other children, and, 3) when such concems are expressed they must be silenced. Critics ofrap and hip-hop launch their attack on rap based upon a sense of moral outrage, but refrain from looking at urban poverty, racism, and sexism in other sectors of society with the same ire they reserve for rappers. Slayden (1999: 37) points out that the moral cultural criticism and "suggestions" to "improve" rap content are problematic for two reasons. First, they conceptualize culture as a territory that can be taken over by an other, rec1aimed, and remade into "our" own, like colonizing countries that take over the culture of their colonized. Second, such language use describes the values of the "Other" as contrary to "our" morals, that is, the morals of the dominant group. This further insinuates that certain behaviours and situations are the fault of this Other, and not due to social conditions. Michael Franti,6 leader of Spearhead, believes

38 that moral criticism launched at blacks, hip-hop culture, and rap music is unsubstantiated:

Rap didn't start the phenomenon of people killing each other or mistreating women in our community. Education and welfare cuts and a bui1dup ofjails has more to do with it. ... Nobody got mad when Eric C1apton sang "1 Shot the Sheriff." You've got The Terminator, a whole movie about b10wing cops to bits, and there's Arnold Schwarzemegger posing with George Bush. I1's hypocrisy. (Gunderson 1994: 4D)

We can refer to the theory of oppressive representations to examine the media's coverage of hip-hop culture. The theory was put forth originally by Fiske (1987) and examines how certain deep-structure binaries (for example: good/bad or right/wrong) are often extended to concrete representations within societal structures such as light/dark, order/lawlessness, and upper-middle class/underclass. Fiske borrows from Barthes to explain how these mythical binaries serve the dominant class, who, not surprisingly, are those individuals who fall on the left side of the comparison (ibid. 132). ;In her study, Elkund Koza also found that that coverage of hip-hop tended to support this theory by equating rap music with poverty, and in tum, by associating povertY with blackness? As one might assume, rap was also associated with the negative, and compared to an imaginary "other" (presumably whiteness). Much ofthe basis for such representations can be related to the perception from sorne media that "industrial societies assume a national cultural consensus. Implicit within this notion is the assumption that individuals within the nation share common frameworks of meaning and interpretations" (Hill 1999: 1OS). Sorne of rap's values, such as rugged individualism and materialism, are linked to these common frameworks; however, it is the way in which rappers acquire or express these values that many critics condemn. Elkund Koza explains: "[e]vidence of inside/outside binaries was in abundance in comments about rappers' race and social class, the binaries taking the forro of high/low, good/bad, here/there, and up/down. Rap was usually associated with the right side ofthe virgule, and with lack or want" (ibid. 73). While these comparisons are usually drawn out through a white/black binary, this does not hold true for articles appearing in the mainstream, non-specialist media that assess Eminem. Instead, reporters try to dissociate Eminem from the lifestyle associated with white behaviour and white values. Eminem may be white but he is often described as an "angry young man" (Rose 2000: W12) who was raised in a dysfunctional family (Case 2001b). The numerous failed relationships in his family, a history ofdeadbeat fathers and

39 familial violence are also offered to show that Eminem is not representative of a typical white American (ibid.). Moreover, Eminem's poverty-stricken, fatherless childhood spent moving around various black neighbourhoods in Detroit is given as a reason for the anger he expresses through his rap songs (Elrick 2000). In fact, Eminem's underclass childhood often cornes off as related to white or trailer park trash, further distancing him from the values of the dominant structure. Through coverage that associates his childhood poverty with undesirable lifestyle choices as an adult, Eminem is still linked with the right side of Elkund Koza's binary, associating him with the same negative imagery for members of the black underclass. His bad boy image is not only upheld through aU of these associations, but it is also perpetuated, since these images of him have become a part of the popular imagination surrounding his public personas. Furthermore, in ignoring the work of black rappers whose raps should have a similar impact on critics, reporters feed into the negative images ofblack cultural forms that permeate society's dominant group: "[i]f we are to tum down the volume on hate-fiUed lyrics, we need a broad cultural discussion ofthe impact ofthe music on the hearts and minds ofour young.... To shine a spotlight on Eminem without giving equal time to black rappers whose lyrics are just as wounding, sends the wrong message to our kids and society" (Bowling 2001). Although Elkund Koza does not go as far as to discuss the after effects of such media coverage, Lipsitz's 1998 essay could be seen as an extension of her work. In looking at the 1994 hip-hop hearings,8 Lipsitz examines how the still on-going censorship debate(s) over the censorship of lyrics are played out in a (neo)conservative political context. In my opinion, since Lipsitz pays considerable heed to the concems about rap's promotion of disrespect for sorne of society's other marginalized groups, namely women and homosexuals, he considers both sides ofthis debate adequately. In the end, he argues that the debates over song lyrics serve only to divert attention from the ways in which certain elements of the neoconservative political agenda, such as deindustrialization and economic restructuring, have driven a wedge between generations ofaH ethnicities (1998: 395). Lipsitz thus argues that censorship ofrap lyrics is an attempt to distract people from other issues (ibid. 104), just as Wright claimed in the article in The Source (2002: 101­ 104). Since most of the people who want to censor rap music are either politicians or representatives ofspecial interest groups, it is apparent that hip-hop culture and its music

40 are being made into the scapegoats for a situation created by institutional policies. Those familiar with hip-hop culture often describe rap music as registering the plight and subordination of inner-city youth, and rap artists as the deliverers of such messages. The attempted censorship of rap, therefore, can be seen as a way of trying to erase the strong connection between rap and the social conditions ofthe urban underclass, conditions that have been blamed on government over-action (extensive tax burden) or government in-action (inadequate number or wealmess of social policies).9 Those who support censorship are fearful that the impressionable listeners of rap music will start to empathize with the black experience and take up this behaviour themselves (Houchin Winfield 1999: 13). While sorne of the issues about the content of rap songs are legitimate concems, as the studies by Elkund Koza (1999) and Lipsitz (1998) indicate, rap's critics tend to overlook the poetics or actual context ofthe violent lyrics. They shift the focus away from the rappers' messages, and instead level criticism at subject matter that "threatens" society. As Robin D. G. Kelley (1994: 190) states:

Throughout the sustained censorship campaign against hip-hop, rap artists and their defenders have conceded that the music's lyrics are sometimes obscene, sometimes celebratory about violence, and sometimes sexist and misogynist. They do point out, however, that critics often forget that rap lyrics use metaphors - Ice-T's "Grand Larceny" is actually about "stealing" a show and that his "l'm Your Pusher" is an anti-drug song celebrating "dope beats" and lyrics with "no beepers needed.

The point Kelley makes is that hip-hop critics rarely notice these language intricacies, or if they do, choose not to mention them in their analyses ofrap music. This kind of criticism is consistent with Eminem's work because the content of his songs are often pulled away from the context and literary devices he employs to convey his satirical messages. Furthermore, in criticizing Eminem, critics usually pick out one or two lines from his albums and refer back to that repeatedly to make their case about Eminem's rhymes. "Kill You" for instance, is one of the songs from The Marshall Mathers LP that received the most attention because Eminem repeats the phrase, "You don't wanna fuck with Shady/Cause Shady, will fuckin kill you." Despite the satirical tone to this song, and even though the rest ofthe album contains lines that are more positive, this line and song are most often cited from the album. Former US President Bill Clinton's 1995 State ofthe Union Address is a perfect example of how critics often do not consider all elements of

41 rap songs:

For the people in the entertainment industry ... we applaud your creativity and your worldwide success, and we support your freedom ofexpression. But you do have a responsibility to assess the impact of your work and to understand the damage that cornes from incessant, repetitive mindless violence and irresponsible conduct that permeates our media aIl the time. (Clinton 1995)

The problem with criticizing hip-hop artists for their content is that sometimes message rappers, who target policies for the mistreatment of blacks, become lost in the "target rap" shuffle. Their work differs from gangsta rap in a variety of ways and criticizing them in the same breath as gangsta rappers 1Ü could come off as a political targeting of their positive messages (Bowling 2001). With Eminem, however, the situation is different. Since he is white "his critics don't have to fear any racial fallout" (Hammer 2000), Eminem therefore becomes a "safe scapegoat" because ofhis whiteness. In fact, in non-hip-hop media, Eminem has come to represent aIl rappers. Whenever they need to demonstrate the negative aspects of rap music, they quote Em, often out of context, but are "reluctant to criticize black rappers for fear of being called racists" (ibid.). Such calls for censorship of Em's work also raise significant issues of racism, because, as Darrel Bowling (2001) points out, this sends a disturbing message about the low behavioural expectations placed on black youth. Since other rappers like Dre, Jay-Z and Xzibit are rarely targeted, this could be seen as an indication that disrespecting (black) women and enacting physical harm on other (black) kids is not as serious an issue as is Eminem's disrespect for the white women in his life and the other white individuals whom he dislikes.

THEY WANNA GROW UP TO BE JUSTLIKE EM

Both the hip-hop and non-hip-hop media have each played an important role in the development of Eminem's star status. Even more intriguing than the differing analyses in mainstream and hip-hop/music media is the way in which Eminem operates in teen-pop culture. Despite his numerous stabbing jabs at pop-music's stars and fans, Eminem still has a very large pop following and has been on the covers of the same magazines that have been designed for teenaged girls looking for the latest pin-up to stick on their bedroom walls or in their lockers at school. In the last three years, Eminem has

42 graced the pages ofnearly every American magazine from The Source, Spin, and Rolling Stone to Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, and even Teen. It is even safe to estimate that Em has been mentioned at least once in every daily newspaper in Canada and the United States. He has even found his way onto trash TV, in the form of an entire episode of Sally Jessy Raphael ("Eminem ... Love Him or Hate Him?"), debating the impact of his lyrics, and featuring his younger brother, their mother, and the irate mother of a young Eminem fan. 11 The unprecedented success of Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) catapulted Eminem into the limelight. Every thing he said and did came under heavy media scrutiny, most of which was negative. Since the album's release, it has sold more than eight million units in the US, selling close to 2 million copies during its debut week. This explosion in sales won Eminem airplay on mainstream radio stations (albeit with versions of his songs that are edited severely), MTV (a US-television station that airs music videos and appeals to young music fans), BET (Black Entertainment Television, US-television station that is popular among young fans ofhip-hop culture), and Saturday Night Live, a weekly show on NEC that features popular artists. Eminem has even become one of the most requested artists on MTV's Total Request Live, a show where teen fans calI in to request their favourite music videos. He receives just as much airtime as his much-hated pop competitors, such as Britney Spears, *NSYNC, and Christina Aguilera. It is at this point, when Eminem has become a huge success in the teen and mainstream music markets, that his status as a social deviant has become even more important to maintaining his success and credibility within hip-hop circles. Ironically enough, Eminem does not have to do much to maintain this status since much of the coverage does this work for him. Not only is Eminem often seen viewed in terms of the traits associated with his fictional Slim Shady alter ego but media coverage often goes a step further by making him into a scapegoat for the supposed increases in youth violence, deviance, and transgression ("Lynne" 2001). Eminem has politicians, critics, and parents in an uproar, which, ofcourse, serves only to make him more popular with teens. Even as his mainstream, pop-commodity status increases, as he becomes more deviant through the media, he also becomes more appealing to his teen fans.

43 The coverage that points to Eminem as deviant overlooks the rich history of hip­ hop culture, and perpetuates an elitist understanding that draws on negative stereotypes long associated with blackness. According to Elkund Koza (1999: 65), this problem can be resolved only if we look at rap and hip-hop culture as significant cultural artifacts: "[i]gnoring or denouncing popular culture - the culture of the people - sends elitist messages about whose understandings of the world do or do not count, both in schools and in the dominant culture.... Furthermore, popular culture sometimes serves as a venue for cultural critique, specifically ofinstitutions and the power regimes that support them." She further explains why the appearance of rap in non-music sections of newspapers or non-music magazines perpetuates the power relations ofsociety's dominant structure:

Placing discussions of rap in categories other than the music/arts sections contributed to a construction ofrap as a sociological phenomenon, as political discourse, or as reportage, rather than as an art form, and thus it changed the terms in which rap was discussed. Regardless ofwhether articles appeared in or out of the arts/music section, however, there was very little discussion of the music itself, aside from the lyrics.... These absences further contributed to rap's construction as a sociological phenomenon, subject to intense social analysis. (Ibid. 71)

While the hype around Eminem fuels the fire of those groups who believe his work should be censored, thus making him more appealing to teen fans, 1 still believe that it is debatable that this kind of coverage is the reason for Eminem's pop-icon status. That being said, 1 do not think that we can isolate Eminem's pop-star status from the way in which he is received by teen media sources. It is indeed quite unusual that a hardcore rapper would appear on the covers ofthese magazines and still maintain a strong hold on his hip-hop connection. It is interesting to see how the teen magazines use his bad boy image (Slîm Shady), his playful and vulnerable sides (Marshall Mathers), and his image as a hip-hop performer (Eminem) differently from mainstream newspapers or hip-hop magazmes. In teen magazines, such as Teen People, Twist, and Teen, Eminem's contradictory traits are employed in a manner that would make him more appealing to teenage girls. Playing upon the beliefthat the "real Eminem" is not as malevolent as other media c1aim, these magazines use his bullied youth to illicit pitY and sympathy from their readers, describing Eminem as a "loner" with few friends and a "sensitive child in a tough city

44 where the bigger kids just loved knocking the little kids around" ("Em" 2001: 10-11). Eminem also cornes across as a loyal, fun-loving, easy-going, weIl-balanced person, who is also a "romantic at heart" ("Not" 2001: 19). Furthermore, one magazine even emphasized Eminem's perceived shyness and insecurities (traits that could be attractive to self-conscious teenaged girls) and downplayed his volatile relationship with his ex-wife Kim (Brown 2000: 78). While these articles do play into the teenage girl's attraction to a "sensitive guy," indicating that much ofwhat Eminem does is performance, they also remind readers that the lines between his reallife and fictional personas are often blurred ("Eminem" 2001: 41-44). As in the article in Teen People, the writers spew off facts about how many albums Em has sold and how his star has risen without discussing how his rapping talents both link him to, and distance him, from contemporary rappers (Brown 2000: 77-8). This may grow out of a desire to distance him from the hardness of hip-hop culture. Even a simple search on the Internet shows how much of the popular teen imagination Eminem now claims. 1 ran a few searches on the Internet search engines, Google, Yahoo!, and Yahoo!Clubs (on-line member clubs devoted to the stars). In aIl but one case, the number of hits 1 came across simply from typing in "Eminem" outnumbers those for "Britney Spears," "Christina Aguilera," and even the most popular members of the boy bands. Moreover, the number of web sites devoted to male heartthrobs *NSYNC's "Justin Timberlake" and Backstreet Boy "Nick Carter" combined are often less than the number for Eminem. 12

THE MAINSTREAM SCAPEGOAT

ln 2001 alone, Eminem has been labeIled as everything from a briIliant lyricist and gifted storyteIler (Delingpole 2001: B3) to a societal misfit, heIl-bent on advocating violence toward women and homosexuals (Pitts jr. 2001). Consequently, the different opinions of the content ofhis lyrics have stirred serious debate since he made his major­ label debut with The Slim Shady LP (1999). Those who want his music censored cite his glorification of crime and the way he addresses women and homosexuals as causing major divisions in society ("Vice President's" 2001). His supporters, on the other hand, in stating that form is often a more teIling indicator of talent than the content in the rap

45 songs, argue that Eminem highlights the social disintegration in urban America that most people would rather not face ("Madonna, Elton" 2001). Eminem further subverts these stereotypes through rapping about his experiences of poverty and deprivation thus showing that the deviant, cool and societal misfit traits are not limited to members of the black underclass. Moreover, by not only not ignoring his whiteness, but by mentioning it frequently, he impels members of the dominant class to see hip-hop culture as more of a central feature ofa national, US culture, rather than a subversion of the "norm." In fact, each time a media source notices something that is going on in Em's life, and adds it to the content of their paper or magazine, this intensifies the fascination and mystery around Eminem (Case 2001a and Dickson 2000). Houchin Winfield explains through an analogy to rapper 2Pac, which produces responses similar to those confronting Eminem: "The more confrontational ['Pac] was, the more newsworthy he was, and the more his releases sold. To sorne he became a hero; to others a demon" (1999: 17). Since hip-hop culture is now much more a part of the mainstream than it was when Elkund Koza and Hill conducted their studies, there are more writers who are not only familiar with hip-hop culture, but also fans of it themselves. Eminem's media coverage in mainstream media, therefore, ranges from moral criticism and outrage (Rose 2001: W2), to respect for his achievements (Burlingame 2001), to outpourings of admiration for his (rapping) abilities and successes (Strauss 2001), to recognition of his hard stance on social problems (Doherty 2001).

THE 2001 GRAMMY AWARDS

The embrace of Eminem by his musical peers during the 2001 Grammy Awards stirred up so much controversy that everything else that happened during the ceremony seems insignificant. U2 took home three Grammys, as many as Eminem, and still Em dominated all the pre- and post-Grammy coverage, with U2 taking a backseat during what The Montreal Gazette referred to as "The Marshall Mathers Grammys" (2001: Al). Admittedly, the hype over the performance of his hit single "Stan" with gay pop-artist Elton John gamered much of this attention, but sorne newspaper coverage downplayed what could have become a debate over the performance, and hailed Eminem for handIing himselfwith class during his acceptance speeches (Sperounes 2001: Cl).

46 Non-hip-hop artists are quick to come to the rapper's defence. Before the 2001 Grammy Awards ceremony, the Los Angeles Times polled previous Grammy winners for their opinion on Eminem ("Madonna, Elton" 2001) and the result was resounding and unanimous support for Eminem's work. AIl of the artists recognized Eminem for his talent at manipulating the English language and defended his right to express his personal perceptions ofthe problems in society. Said Stevie Wonder:

Rap to me is a modem blues - a statement of how and where people are at. ... 1 think art is a reflection of our society, and people don't like to confront the realities in society. We dance forever around the issues ... but until we rea11y confront the truth, we are going to have a Tupac or Eminem or Biggie Sma11s to remind us about it. ... For someone to say, this is a disgrace to the Grammys, come on. There was a time when blues was called a disgrace.

It would indeed be rare to find a musical performer who would be as invested in the idea of lyric censorship as say, Lynne Cheney or Tipper Gore. The rush to defend Eminem's right to express his opinions therefore should surprise no one. Artists have long supported each other's free speech rights, support that often becomes more important than agreement with those opinions. Madonna, who in the past has herselfcome under scrutiny from many ofthe same cultural conservatives who now berate Eminem, is also one of Em's biggest supporters, even going as far as to pen a letter to the Los Angeles Times ("Madonna Mauls" 2001). No stranger to this kind of negative attention, Madonna's work in the 80s and early 90s was also seen as having a negative influence on her young listeners. However, today she is recognized for having adapted to changes in the popular music industry and has eased her way into the group ofwell-respected artists who push artistic limits. In her letter, she praises Eminem for his blatant honesty and for provoking discussion on issues that are usually pushed to the political backbumer. Eminem's right to speak his mind has also been defended by Chuck D who c1aims that Eminem's "interviews are very different to his inner views" (Shaw and Anders 2001: 97). The Source interpreted Eminem's Grammy nominations in a unique way (Frosh 2001: 43-4). While the editor's were pleased with hip-hop's rise into mainstream recognition and delighted that The MMLP received the recognition it deserved, their guarded scepticism about the sincerity ofthese nominations is justified. Many other black rap artists have released landmark recordings, such as Jay-Z's Hard Knock Life and

47 Biggie's Ready ta Die, but neither have been nominated in the overall album category. Lauryn Hill, who won the best overall album award (1999) for her Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was deemed R&B, not hip-hop: "[s]ome ofus wonder whether the Academy feels more comfortable nominating a white rapper when Black artists like Snoop, Jay-Z, Pac, Biggie, and OutKast were passed over time and time again for the very same nomination" (ibid. 44). The Grammy Awards recognize musical achievements, and since the majority of musical performers tend to be young themselves (especially of late) the awards show wants to show that they are more "in tune" with the tastes of the music industry's youth listeners (ibid. 43). It could be argued that no other rapper has record sales that match those of Eminem. Conversely, as most have noted, Eminem likely received the nomination for album of the year because the Grammy nominations committee could not ignore The Marshall Mathers LP (Case 200la). Despite the level of praise from musicians and the hip-hop community, not everyone was thrilled with Eminem's Grammy successes. Lynne Cheney has expressed concem repeatedly over the way in which other musicians have accepted Eminem and has berated the entire music industry for embracing him through recognition for his work, since she finds it "truly astonishing ... that a man whose work is so filled with hate would be so honoured by his peers" ("Lynne" 2000). While most of the Grammy coverage was somewhat tame compared to the responses Eminem usually confronts, the coverage leading up to the Grammys drew upon the familiar debates, with many people criticizing Eminem for the language with which he talks about women and homosexuals. One article (Brown 2001: B3) debated the line between role-playing and expressing real feelings, with a music video director stating that since the name of the album (The Marshall Mathers LP) represents Eminem's real name, the album's content might not reflect the opinions of a persona, but Eminem's true feelings. Another interviewee in the same article emphasized the importance of realness and personal experience in hip-hop, disagreeing with the notion that Eminem takes on an alter ego when performing. When many of these critics allege that Em is, for instant, homophobic, they miss the fact that Eminem puts himself at the centre of most of this content. For example, a recurring gay character on his albums is Ken Kaniff. During a skit on The S/im Shady LP, Ken Keniff calls Eminem, threatening Em with "You want me to fucking melt

48 in you mouth and not in your hand? 1'11 melt in your ass you little cock boy!" (Eminem laughs in response) and, in another skit from The Marshall Mathers LP, the members of Eminem's rival Detroit rap group Insane Clown Posse perform oral sex on Ken, fantasizing that Ken is Eminem. The joke? Eminem is Ken Kaniff. Furthermore, on "Criminal" Eminem even alludes to a sexual relationship with Dr. Dre: "1 told you Dre, you should've kept that thang put away/I guess that'll teach you not to let me play with it, eh?" It should be noted, however, that most of the more "positive" articles on Em and the Grammys appeared in the entertainment or music sections of their respective papers, or in alternative magazine sources, and were normally written by pop/music critics. The majority of non-music coverage, however, fe11 into the stereotypieal ways of interpreting Eminem. According to Jack F.K. Bungart, the managing editor of the Times-Herald Online (2001) if you "[l]isten to Eminem freely throw about hateful, ugly words - in a song about his mother ... suddenly freedom of speech takes a backseat to the hair standing on the back of your neck and the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach." Despite receiving sorne respect, since The MMLP contained such high levels ofanger and violence, it has sparked numerous calls for censorship and re-fue11ed the on-going debates on artist responsibility. While the censorship issue had been on the backburner, through Eminem the debate has been given new life. Eminem, and rap music overall, are once again the targets of familiar foes: political representatives, "Washington wives,,,13 teachers, and religious groups.

SUMMITS, HEARINGS, AND THE Fee TARGET EMlNEM

Much of this kind of coverage centres on comments generated from Hip-Hop Summits, Congressional Hearings, and backlashes from political and specialty groups. At the 2001 Congressional hearing that examined the marketing practices of the entertainment industry and the responsibility of the artist many representatives, for instance Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), used Eminem's lyrics as an example for supporting censorship of music. Unlike the open attacks Lynne Cheney and others wage on Eminem through the media, at these Congressional Hearings, legislators were careful to ensure that they did not appear as

49 wanting to restrain the First Amendment rights of musicians. Instead, as with Bill Clinton's quote from earlier, they calI upon the music industry to bring this censorship from within, and for artists to take on more of the responsibility for keeping explicit content albums out ofthe reach ofimpressionable children. Hip-hop and its music, therefore, are often attacked by mainstream American for "the language and explicit sexual descriptions of the messages" (White and Cones III 1999: 101) instead of being examined for the conditions and experiences that have allowed such lyrics to emerge. There are sorne people who believe that all hip-hop lyrics - not just Eminem's - refiect the hopelessness felt by many young people in America (D'Entremont 2001). D'Entremont further evaluates how Eminem, in "subverting the myth of American classlessness ... exposes the delusions of a society that resolute1y denies its own failings and inequities." The author of this article goes a step further, finding a legitimate voice in the violent Slim Shady character who "tells hard truths about a violent culture." Another issue to emerge from these hearings is the tendency of representatives to ignore previous attempts to vilify other entertainers. For instance, at a House Subcommittee meeting to examine the exposure ofviolent material on children, Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb) said: "Madonna seems tame and lame compared to Eminem" ("Congress" 2001). Could MI. Terry be forgetting that at one time, Madonna herse1fwas the whipping board for the same agenda that is now using Eminem as a scapegoat and that upon later refiection, her work is now respected as making serious and credible contributions to (popular) music today? Hammer (2000) states that political leaders should examine Eminem's uses of persona, as well as, irony, and satire more closely:

Like many of the "new scho01" hip-hoppers, S1im Shady paints 1yrica1 pictures of a world in which priorities are confused, money corrupts, parenting is a 10st art and nobody is accountab1e for his own actions anymore - especial1y if he can find a convenient scapegoat. ... Eminem may be strident, but he's simp1y saying that the modem wor1d is messed up and needs mending from the family 1eve1 on up. Exact1y what the senators are saying.

Several things are apparent from this citation. The first is the effective way in which Hammer employs the use of Eminem's personas (Slim Shady and Eminem). In linking Shady to corruption and unaccountability, Hammer could be seen as suggesting that these

50 traits are related to the fictional Slim, and not necessarily to the person behind the lyrics. Second, when he discusses Eminem directly, he refers to his brash rapping style, saying instead, "Eminem may be strident" thus comparing Eminem to a messenger of sorts. Finally, since "Slim Shady paints a lyrical picture" of his (Marshall Mathers') life experiences, Hammer could be suggesting that Eminem's critics consider the e1ements in Eminem's life that allow him to see the world in a "negative" manner. It does seem odd for Hammer to suggest that Lynne Cheney and her colleagues may have found an ally in Eminem, but Brian Doherty (2000) also argues this point. Like Hammer, Doherty further suggests that Eminem "goes farther than any of his critics in portraying himself as possibly responsible for real-world carnage.,,14 While 1 applaud these journalists for divulging unconventional opinions of Eminem's work and for viewing the elements of hip-hop culture as art forms, both the Hammer and Doherty pieces appeared in alternative news sources, so the like1ihood of their reaching critics of hip-hop or even "the people" seems low. Thus, opinions like these remain an anomaly. For instance, an oft-cited Em song is "Kill y ou," where he raps about killing women, especially his mother. While "Bitch, lma Kill you!" (which Eminem repeats throughout the chorus) can be interpreted as misogynist, Em ends the song with ''l'm just playin' ladies, you know 1 love you." This alters the tone of the song, which should be taken into consideration when evaluating Eminem's lyrics, as Kelley (1994: 190) indicated in relation to lce-T's "l'm Your Pusher" and "Grand Larceny." It is equally important to note which persona Eminem is using to express such thoughts. Slim Shady, the persona Eminem mentions frequently in "Kill y ou," exists in a fantasy world where a young Marshall Mathers, and not his childhood bullies, is a powerful and violent person on the playground. There is even further reluctance on the part of Eminem's critics to examine his albums as a whole. This is an important factor because each song unfolds to tell a larger story, which, in the case of The MMLP, explains Eminem's reaction to fame, or in The Sfim Shady LP (1999), describes the struggles of a white member ofthe underc1ass vying to make it in hip-hop. Furthermore, in failing to recognize and acknowledge Eminem's use ofparody, satire, and play, mainstream Americans are able to maintain a firm grip on their longstanding negative stereotypes of black cultural forms. Thus, in attacking

51 Eminem and hip-hop, reporters do not have to concede to hip-hop as an art form that deserves as much respect as the blues and jazz. Many times Eminem is shown respect because of the volume of his record sales and not because of his contributions to the music industry. That is not to say that all mainstream, non-music coverage does not recognize Em's talents. One such article, is a commentary by David Staples (2001: E10) that explains why Eminem's rapping skills place him above all of other rappers, and delves into Eminem's satire, humour, and his rhythmic style. For much of the article, Staples consulted with Adam Krims, an expert on hip-hop culture and rap music and author ofRap Music and the Poetics ofIdentity (2000). Thus, instead of the usual banter that derides Eminem for his lyrical choices, Staples offered advice on how to interpret, understand, and listen to rap music. Another article examines Eminem's potential appeal for adult fans, and likens Eminem's intricate rhymes to the poetics of Gerald Manley Hopkins (Delingpole 2001: B3). Furthermore, Giles Foden (2001) goes in depth slightly to explain the historical uses of "1" in poetry and compares Eminem's mastery of this to the "great dramatic monologues" of Browning, Frost, Pound, and Eliot, quite a compliment indeed. Foden even cites the Handbook ofLiterature, which states that a monologue should reveal:

... a 'soul in action' through the dramatic speech of one character in a dramatic situation. The character is speaking to an identifiable but silent listener at a dramatic moment in the speaker's life. The circumstances surrounding the conversation, one side of which we 'hear' ... are made clear by implication, and an insight into the character ofthe speaker may result.

SEEING PAST THE HYPE: HIP-HOPIMUSIC MAGAZINES

His connection to Dr. Dre and other hip-hop notables aside, Em is appreciated because of these rap skills of which Foden speaks, the meter and tempo at which he delivers his lyrically-packed rhymes, and because of how he has maintained a strong divide between his mainstream and hip-hop identities. Eminem has received many accolades from hip-hop culture's chief magazine The Source and was one of the artists named on "Fat Tape 2000" - recognizing hip-hop's best songs of the year - for "The Way 1 Am" ("2000" January 2001). The magazine has been one of Eminem's biggest supporters ever since he made it into their "Unsigned Hype" column, a space the

52 magazine designates for underground emcees who are making waves in their local hip­ hop scenes, in 1998: "Point blank, this ain't your average cat. This Motor City kid is a one-of-a-kind talent and he's about to blow past competition, leaving many melted microphones in the dust" ("Unsigned" 2001: 158). Em is a1so the only white rapper to receive a Source Hip-Hop Award (Lyricist of the Year and Music Video of the Year "Guilty Conscience" in 2000 and in 2001, Music Video ofthe Year "Stan") and remains the on1y white rapper to grace the magazine's coyer (July 2000 and May 2002). The Source's editor-in-chief, Carlito Rodriguez said that putting Eminem on the magazine's coyer the first time was not a difficult decision because "everyone here respects Eminem as a lyricist" (Brown 2000: 78). On Eminem's second appearance, the Source editors said: "Remember a time when rap had no significant white face to speak of? ... Shit has changed y'all. Remember the first time we put a white rapper on the coyer of this magazine? We recognized his skill and disregarded the coler of his skin" (May 2002: 24). Even more important is, unlike most ofthose who coyer Eminem, the Source's editors, writers, and other well-respected members ofthe hip-hop community restrain the use of "white" to describe Eminem. His race is a matter of fact, a non-issue because he delivers, 1yrically. Instead, Eminem is singled out because:

[h]e packs more into a single verse than most do in an entire album. With an unparalleled wit, he can tell you to go to hell and draw you a map without missing a beat. Combining haymaker punch lines with storytelling ability made The Marshall Mathers LP a must-buy. ("Cover" 2001: 63)

In the Source's review ofhip-hop in 2000 ("2000" 2001: 83-118), Eminem was chosen as one of the top 10 artists of the year, second to Jay-Z because of how he has "changed the [rap] game." Even in the face of his mainstream success, Eminem's connection to the hip-hop community has not dissipated. His authenticity as a "real" hip­ hop head who has faced a hard-knocked 1ife has been maintained: "[t]he MC['s] ... twisted tales [have] gamered him both criticism and praise.... In addition, Em has done the unthinkable[:] simultaneously maintained his street and pop credibility. Despite his overwhelming1y pop audience, he is still respected by his rhyme-spittin' peers" (ibid. 90). Eminem has handled the critical transitions from struggling underground artist to a deal with a major record label to a pop superstar with multi-platinum status successfully, further gaining the respect ofother rappers since he has not succumbed to the pressures of

53 his mainstream success: "Em [has taken] the high road - letting his lyrics and skills speak for themselves" (ibid. 90). According to Spin, Eminem remains distinctly hip-hop because he maintains a commitment to rapping, instead of extending himse1f to other areas, which would distract from his music. Even Eminem's film debut 8 Mile, which will be in theatres on November 8th 2002, remains true to his underground roots, as he will play a character whose life is based loosely on his own experiences as an up-and-coming emcee in Detroit:

People might well question an obsession that continues long after you'd think he made his point. It's almost as if, through all the railing pundits, Total Request Live fests, and screaming suburban amphitheatres, Eminem kept one foot back in those battles at the Rip-Rop Shop, which definitely sound hard to forget. (Norris 2001: 82) 15

As with generations past, Eminem's youth appeal has aroused the fury of a large number of politicians, reporters, and neo-conservative and neo-liberal groups who fear that his fans are at risk because of the values Eminem promotes through his albums. Eminem has thus become one of the present day's leading sources of ma1content. Rather than respond to such criticism openly, he uses his music to further irritate his critics. In "Renagade," from Jay-Z's The Blueprint, he refers specifically to the way in which these conf1icting interpretations both describe him as an oppositional force and hold him responsible for the problems in society:

See l'm a poet to sorne, a regular modem day Shakespeare Jesus Christ the King ofthese Latter Day Saints here To shatter the picture in which ofthat as they paint me As a monger ofhate and Satan a scatter-brained atheist But that ain't the case; see it's a matter oftaste We as a people decide ifShady's as bad as they say he is Or is he the latter - a gateway to escape? Media scapegoat, who they can be mad at today See it's easy as cake, simple as whistlin Dixie While l'm wavin the pistol at sixty Christians against me Go to war with the Mormons; take a bath with the Catholics In holy water - no wonder they try to hold me under longer l'm a motherfuckin spiteful, DELIGRTFUL eyeful The new Ice Cube - motherfuckers RATE to like you What did l do? (huh?) l'mjust a kid from the gutter Makin' this butter offthese bloodsuckers, cause l'ma mu'hfuckin RENAGADE

Despite this overwhelming popularity, Eminem maintains a rebellious and defiant stance

54 that is grounded in hip-hop's sense of street credibility. This makes him appealing to younger, teenaged fans and hip-hop's traditionalists; however, it also spurs critics who make him out to be a menace whose rap anthems pose a threat to today's youth. This very contradiction drives his popularity and the successes of his albums. Eminem takes every misinterpretation of his work, every comment about his supposed influence over youth, and every overblown statement of his character and has created a successful rap persona that launches violent attacks on a society that was built on racial oppression. And, while we may have more insight into black culture now than we did during the early 1940s, the fact that most black rappers do not confront the same criticism as does Eminem, raises a disturbing possibility: that black males are still seen in terms of lower behavioural standards; and, second, that black cultural forms, regardless of their artistic merits, will always be seen as detrimental to the innocent vulnerability of white youth.

Notes 1 From William Shaw and Marcel Anders "Get in the ring muthaf*#$er" (Q September 2001: 94). 2 This is a term borrowed from John Fiske (Television Culture, New York: Routledge, 1987) used by Julia Elkund Koza in "Rap Music: The Cultural Politics of Official Representation," Sound Identities: Popular Music and the Cultural Politics ofEducation, McCarty et al, Eds. (New York, Peter Lang, 1999) to explain media criticism ofhip-hop culture. 3 Hill examined hip-hop in the Times between 1985-1990 and Elkund Koza looked at magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and The New Republic, from 1983-1992. 4 See David Samuels, "The rap on rap" in Newsweek (November Il, 1991: 25) 5 ln 2001, the Federal Trade Commission sent a list oftwenty-nine albums containing explicit content to a US Senate committee. Twenty-two ofthese were albums by rap artists. 6 Michael Franti was once a part of the duo Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and has been influenced by Public Enemy throughout his hip-hop career. In 1994, he formed the group Spearhead, a funk-hip-hop group that brings a "consciousness" to their music. 7 Here, Elkund Koza cites David Gates, "Decoding rap music," in Newsweek (March 19, 1990: 60). 8 See the "Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness of the Committee on Energy and Commerce," House ofRepresentatives, Il February 1994. 9 For a full description of such debates, see Ken Auletta, Ed. The Underclass. Updated and Revised Ed. (Woodstock and New York, The Overlook Press: 1999). 10 In 1993, US President Bill Clinton was forced to apologize for criticizing rapper Sistah Soulijah because ofher ties to hip-hop's message rapping. 11 Eminem parodies this episode during his music video for "Without Me," the first single from his 2002 release, The Eminem Show. 12 1 ran several searches on the Internet conducted on Il November 2001 looking at , , and . The respective results are as follows. Web sites on Google: Eminem - 596,000; Britney Spears - 580,000; *NSYNC - 389,000; Backstreet Boys - 368,000; Christina Aguilera - 231,000; Nick Carter - 40,800; and, Justin Timberlake­ 39,600. On Yahoo!: Eminem - 280,000; Britney Spears - 273,000; Nick Carter - 192,000; Justin Timberlake - 187,000; *NSYNC - 182,000; Backstreet Boys - 173,000; and Christina Aguilera - 109,000. Yahoo!Clubs: *NSYNC - 4584; BSB - 2325; Britney Spears - 1956; Justin Timberlake - 1178; Eminem­ 835; Nick Carter - 774; Christina Aguilera - 649.

55 13 This was the nickname given to the group of women, (wives of Representatives and Congressmen) who rallied to form, among other things, the Parents Music Resource Centre, through which they lobbied for lyrical responsibility. Their efforts resulted in the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" label that now appears on three out ofevery five rap albums and one in five rock albums. 14 "Role Model," "Stan," "Guilty Conscience" are such examples. 15 MTV held a weekend, hosted by Eminem called EmTV. The Hip-Hop Shop is a now defunct Detroit club where Erninem used to freestyle battle with other Detroit-area MCs.

56 CHAPTER 3: FROM INFINITE TO THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP: EMINEM'S SEARCH FOR HIS OWN HIP-HOP VOlCE

Eminem's Slim Shady person is today well known for the way in which it allows Eminem to convey a gang-banging, violent attitude reminiscent of a street thug through a semi-fictional white body. While that is much too simple a description of Eminem's use of Shady, the traits of this alter ego allow Eminem to maintain a c1ear divide between his hip-hop image and pop-star status. Through Shady, Eminem can maintain his success in each of these areas because Shady appeals to the pop-fans who feed off Shady's rebellious attitude, and to the hip-hop fans that appreciate the honest and poignant depictions of American society. While Shady has brought Eminem much hip-hop and non-hip-hop acc1aim, this alter ego did not appear in Eminem's rhymes until after the hip­ hop community responded unfavourably to his first solo underground album Infinite (1996). As Eminem reveals in his current work, at the start his Shady persona was a culmination of the negative reactions he experienced as an underground emcee, but it eventually became a way of channelling the anger he felt in other areas ofhis life. As an "anger conduit" of sorts, Slim Shady became Eminem's way of expanding his rapping repertoire to inc1ude thug narratives in his rhymes and as such, added another dimension to his emcee skills. In this chapter, l examine the way in which Eminem's rap style has evolved and changed over the course ofhis four albums. Specifically, l am interested in how Eminem went from one rap extreme to the other: from the "softer" style in his solo debut album Infinite (1996) to the complete opposite on his subsequent 1997 release, The S/im Shady EP. Furthermore, Eminem's major-label albums, The S/im Shady LP (1999) and The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) have also changed in style and content in relation to each other. l believe that many of these changes are Eminem's reactions to the media or peer responses following the releases of each album. The changes to Eminem's rap style, which can be seen as a response to the emphasis p1aced on "keepin it rea1" in rap music, indicate first, the importance ofmaintaining a thug narrative within an individual voice, and second, the significance placed on re-invention in the hip-hop community. To frame Eminem's work within a hip-hop/street-themed context, l examine rap's pre-gangsta roots briefly, leading into a discussion of gangsta rap's gang-banging roots and how these

57 established the traditions of rap as relaying a studio-based ghetto "reality," especiaIly notable in the rhymes of NWA, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, and Biggie SmaIls. Gang­ banging refers to any activity associated with street culture's thug life: violence, self­ indulgence, nihilism, celebration of guns and drugs, suspicion of women, and hatred/disrespect of authority. 1 explain how the differences between Infinite (1996), The S/im Shady EP and LP (1997 and 1999 respectively), and The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) can be seen as taking the work of these rappers to the next level. Moreover, as 1 mentioned earlier, that the narrative content of his albums is based heavily upon the responses and reactions to previous albums is an important element in Eminem's work. Apparently, the rapper who claims that he "Just Don't Give a Fuck" does care about what others have to say about his work.

HIP-HOP FROM LIVE PERFORMANCE TO STUDIO STARDOM

With the widespread popularity of gangsta rap, most members of the mainstream view aIl rappers as gangsta rappers, regardless of whether the content of their rhymes justifies this. Previously, other styles included the "party rapping" of old schoolers like Grandmaster Flash, the "message rapping" of Public Enemy and Sistah Souljah, and the "playa" style of "mack rappers" such as Big Daddy Kane and Sir Mix-A-Lot.! While party rappers were known for call-response routines and rapping over existing records, this early rap genre (during the 1970s) is best known for live freestyle battles held during house and block parties where "reputations were built on the charred remains of "sucker MCs" who were reduced to dust with scathing disses" (Fernando jr. 1994: 256). Despite this aspect, subjects remained positive, with dance-orientated, party-themed beats (Krims 2000: 55-58) that would help rappers "move the crowd" and set the mood for a block party: "[b]ack in the day, says [rapper] Lord Finesse, you wasn't thinking about no props or no dancers. It was aIl about coming into a party and ripping shit up with your lyrics" (Fernando jr. 1994: 256). From 1979 to 1984, sales ofhip-hop and rap albums increased dramaticaIly, and, as production factors increased, hip-hop as a whole became more commercialized. The most successful act of this time was rap group Run-DMC. Run-DMC were the first rappers to cross-over to the pop market successfuIly, a move that was marked by their

58 collaboration with rockers Aerosmith on "Walk this Way," which rose to number four on Billboard's pop single charts (1986). They also eamed rap's first gold (Run-DMC), platinum (King ofRock), and multi-platinum (Raising Hel!) awards for album sales from 1984-86 (lOOK, one million, and one million+) respectively (Dimitriadis 1999: 363). Around this time, a new rap subgenre, "message rap," began to emerge. As message rappers began to use their rhymes to promote positive images of blacks, rap messages thus became more "political" in feel and content. Despite these changes to rap narrative, the dance-orientated beats still played a significant part of message rap's background beats. Feeling the need to describe the black existence more truthfully, rappers, such as Public Enemy and KRS-One, started making their rhymes more reflective of the experiences of young blacks in the ghettos. As a result, songs that emerged during this time relied heavily upon creating the sense of an urban Black community, for instance, Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" and "Fight the Power." Such songs urged young blacks to stand up against the systematic institutional discrimination they faced because oftheir skin colour.

A VIEW OF "THUG LIFE" FROM STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

This new stance by message rappers created much tension within the black community, as many youth started expressing their anger over the ways they were being treated. Rather than offering positive ways for overcoming this mistreatment, rap started to move toward overt expressions of anger and violent resistance through gangsta rap. Many theorists (George 1998; Krims 2000; Ro 1996; and Dimitriadis 2001) have examined the many genres and subgenres of rap to develop out of hip-hop music, and express their own concems for the ways in which aIl kinds of rap are today viewed and criticized under criteria that were once reserved for gangsta rap. Niggaz With Attitude (NWA) was comprised of five rappers (MC Ren, Yella, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E) from Compton, who popularized gang-banging values through their lyrics. Their debut album Straight Outta Compton (1988) "introduced" the world to the toughness and attitude required of young black males and showed contempt for everything from police brutality, to the disloyalty of their peers, to the unfriendliness of the streets. Just as party rappers coined the phrase "you don't stop" to push their

59 audiences into a dance-frenzy, NWA popularized their own catch-phrase - "by whatever means necessary" - that would become the anthem for their legions of fans. At a time when message rappers were moving hip-hop toward nationalism and black pride, NWA came in and moved rap into a new direction: "NWA's nihilism was set to more appealing music. The "positive" acts were viewed as anachronisms by a hyperprogressive audience and discarded while the one-dimensional gangstas signed six-figure album deals and dragged hip-hop away from its roots" (Ro 1996: 6-7). This would change the rap game forever, making it into a "man's" game, focused on glorified stories of sexual conquests, guns, violence, murder, and mayhem:

The gangster narrative became an intrinsic part of the art at this time, engendering an entire genre. Its wild financial success has helped to shape the contours of rap's present landscape, the "language" through which rappers articulate their raps. Most artists today acknowledge the genre either implicit1y or explicit1y, as values such as "hardness" and "realness" now dominate across the board. (Dimitriadis 2001: 30)

NWA's "Fuck tha Police" was an instant hit, striking a chord with fans in the ghettos and in the suburbs alike. However, the song also incited negative reactions from police officers all over the United States. In fact, NWA was prohibited from performing this song in Detroit, and when they failed to comply, the group was arrested. As this song has sorne historical significance where perceptions of gangsta rap are concemed, it can be viewed as an example ofthe "first wave" ofgangsta rap:

Cause the police always got somethin' stupid to say They put out my picture with silence Cause my identity by itselfcauses violence The E2 with the criminal behavior Yeah, l'm a gangsta, but still l got flavor Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got? A sucker in a uniform waitin' to get shot By me, or another nigga And with a gat it don't matter ifhe's smaller or bigger

Many ofNWA's songs contained subject matter about growing up in the projects, police racism, and the use of guns (both on them and, by them on others), which titillated the listeners' voyeuristic desires to experience life in the ghetto. This ghetto reality, portrayed not only by NWA but by most other rappers since then, exploits the experiences of the few inner-city youth who tum to violent means as a response to this discrimination, and,

60 at the same time, the opinions ofsorne people in the white-dominated society who see aIl black youth, regardless ofclass or privilege, as menaces to society. NWA's immense popularity outside of hip-hop's common circles also changed rap into what George (1998: 47) describes as a "simplistic mass media stereotype." Thus, rap was no longer perceived through the diverse styles ofits artists, but rather through the politics of ghettocentricity (McLaren 1999: 48). According to Ronin Ro (1996: 6) NWA felt this new rapping style would "guarantee a built-in audience with thousands of gang­ members infiltrating LA." However, the hard beats, bold rhythms, and catchy rhymes also caught the attention of white teens, especially those affluent teens in the suburbs. By giving suburbanites a glimpse of "thug life," rap had found its way out of the ghettos, grabbing the attention of these kids who longed to understand the have-not lifestyle and adopt the rebellious attitude depicted on the albums.

OGs REFLECTON THEIR MOTIVATONS AND DESIRES

Dimitriadis, in his brilliant examination of hip-hop culture through the years, Performing Identity/Performing Culture: Hip-Hop as Text, Pedagogy and Lived Practice (2001) and George in Hip-Hop America (1998) point to the complexity and insightfulness in the rhymes of 2Pac and Biggie as two of the first "gangsta" rappers to embark upon styles that strayed from gang-banging narratives. George, moreover, implies that despite evidence that proves contrary to such identification, Biggie and 2Pac became gangsta rappers after their deaths, which are now seen as the results of their "violent" recordings (1998: 48). In an argument that is echoed by many other theorists, he also reasons that expressions ofviolence in rhymes do not indicate that a rapper is a gangsta rapper, nor do themes related to street life suggest gangsta rap. In sum, he (ibid. 46-49) argues that much of the work in hip-hop today is quite diverse and much too complex to be categorized as gangsta rap:

My point is that most Mes who've been categorized as gangsta rappers are judged thoughtlessly without any understanding of the genuine differences between them. Besides, what's gangsta rap anyway? Listen to any ofNWA's albums, as weIl as Eazy-E's solo efforts, Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggystyle. ... But outside of this collection of records ­ most of them brilliantly modulated vocals supervised by Dr. Dre - l'd he hard-pressed to agree to label any other major star a gangsta rapper. (Ibid. 47)

61 While the specifie themes of violence, drug use, and life on the streets (told from the male perspective) have a connection to rap narratives, rappers eventually started to move away from this singular view of black life in the ghettos. OGs (original gangstas) became more interested in creating narratives, deploying emotions, and revealing their more personal sides. In adding such elements, however, rappers had to ensure that their new style did not appear to shift too far away from "thug life" as this had become a way of conveying hip-hop's alI-important "realness." Rappers confront the influence of thug themes today and face the arduous job of applying a similar theme through different styles, a task that Dimitriadis (2001: 94) identifies as the difficulty of striving for individualism within a self-contained vocal text. Following NWA's successes, many rappers began to steer attention toward the restraints ofAmerican institutions and the racist attitudes ofAmerican citizens, extending the work of message rappers within a gangsta context. After leaving NWA, Ice Cube adopted what can be seen as a more "militant" style ofrap since he examined how black Americans are viewed and treated by other Americans. His second solo album Death Certificate (1991) looks at the historical (mis)treatment ofAfrican-Americans and targets the views, feelings, and attitudes toward blacks. In "1 Wanna Kill Sam" for instance, Cube covers a range of subjects conceming blacks, inc1uding slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, censorship attempts, and the rising HIV crisis. The first major shift from gangsta rapping, however, is found in the work that developed around the mid-90s with help from rappers like Pac and Biggie, who moved rap from narratives surrounding the gangsta figure into complex portraits of "psychologized heroes" (Dimitriadis 2001: 94-101). While the underlying themes of gangsta rap remained intact, rap moved from glimpses of the gangsta's life to looking at the motivations, desires, and personal conflicts that tumed the individual into a "G" (gangsta). 2Pac's Me Against the World (1995) is an example ofthis. The gang-banging "thug life" narrative remained a central aspect of the album's narrative, however, songs also inc1uded "Dear Marna," a lamentation over the struggles of young black single mothers. Here, he examines how his childhood (lack ofa father, drug-dependant mother) tumed him to a life ofcrime. Thus, rather than simply rapping about his criminallifestyle, Pac looks at the social restrictions and conditions that tumed him (and tums other black

62 males) to a criminallifestyle. In the media, 2Pac's complexity was a well-known, popular aspect ofhis narrative:

Many interviews and news stories on Tupac stressed his complex and divided soul, pointing how his internaI struggles between "good" (fighting for black rights while dealing with his inner life) and "evil" (his uncritical gangsta posturing) were central to his music, which, again, ran the gamut from the more "positive" to the wildly "negative." (Dimitriadis 2001: 101)

This "biography rap" of 2Pac and also Biggie Smalls marked an important shift in the gangsta rap narrative, paving the way for newer rappers to come in and try different styles: "Tupac goes beyond a two-dimensional sketch of his life to present a complex, deep-structured, and highly textured portrait ofit. In weaving together the narrative ofhis mother and her struggles, he simultaneously constructs an "'account' that functions to justify or explain the choice he made" (ibid. 98). Dimitriadis (ibid. 29) further explains the influence ofthe gangsta narrative:

Part of the gangsta's wide cultural currency cornes from the universally extractable nature ofhis narrative. His violent outlaw, living his life outside of dominant cultural constraints, solving his problems through brute power and domination, is a character type with roots deep in popular American lore. He embodies such capitalist values as rugged individualism, rampant materialism, strength through physical force, and male domination, while he rejects the very structures deflning that culture.

SLIMSHADYEMERGES THROUGH EMINEM'S CHANGING STYLES

While the out-of-control gangsta traits now play an important part In the construction of Eminem's public personas, this was not the case with Eminem's earlier work on Infinite (1996). Well aware that his emcee skills set him apart from other rappers, Eminem relied on his speedy delivery through more positive subjects rather than a gangsta narrative. However, as this proved unsuccessful, on his second underground album, The S/im Shady EP (1997) Eminem developed Slim Shady, a persona, a gangsta alter ego, that could capture the violent nature of the streets and channel his anger. The narrative of this persona, combined with sharp-witted rhymes, made Eminem an underground star in Detroit, caught the attention of famed rapper and producer Dr. Dre, and led to major-label debut The Sfim Shady LP (1999) on Aftermath/lnterscope Records. This was an instant hit in the suburbs and in the ghettos, selling four million copies in the

63 United States. Eminem foIlowed up this success with The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). This disc was even more successful than his previous album, selling 1.76 million copies in the first week to becorne the fastest-selling hip-hop album of aIl-time. It was also the best seIling album by any solo artist that year (second overaIl behind *NSYNC's Celebrity). Since then, Em has made numerous guest appearances on other rap albums and has produced many ofthese tracks himself. These include: Xzibit's "Don't Approach Me" on Restless (2000) and "Renagade" from Jay-Z's The Blueprint (2001). Eminem even oversaw the entire production of D-12's (The Dirty Dozen, his Detroit rap crew) debut album, Devil's Night (which itselfhit platinum status) on his own Shady Records label (through Aftermath Records). A review ofEminem's major-label work in Pandemonium Online (2000) points to the influence of the gangsta narrative on hip-hop culture. This is one of the few reviews that recognize the differences between Eminem's two major-label albums, not just in terms of content, but also in the way the personalities and narratives of his Shady/MarshaIl Mathers personas are more refined on The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) than they were on The Slim Shady LP (1999). Reyes furthermore refers to Em's pop-star status and argues:

Upon one listen to his latest work, The Marshall Mathers LP, it's clear that the mad poet has more talent, insight, and relevance than all of his TRL contemporaries combined. Unlike most overly hyped artists, Eminem seems to feed on both the pressure and attention. The Marshall Mathers LP is superior to its predecessor, The S/im Shady LP, in both content and scope. It's a far more cohesive and focused album that drives his vision of a man pushed to the brink of sanity through the persecution of a twisted and cruel society home. Eminem has progressed from the angry Slim Shady figure who pushed limits and raised eyebrows to a full blown enemy of the people who thrives on the animosity and disapproval he's received from society.

In referring to Em's status on MTV's Total Request Live, Reyes makes a connection between a "new" Slim Shady and non-hip-hop success. Shady's rebellious attitude is what drives his success and popularity with the TRL generation. The more unlikeable he becomes, the more appealing he is to the children who have not experienced his childhood circumstances firsthand. In addition, Reyes indicates that the Shady/Eminem/MarshaIl Mathers personas are developed from the "persecution of a

64 twisted and cruel society home," suggesting that these personas are a result of external factors, and not just the internaI angst of a misguided young man. Essential to Reyes' argument is the final sentence where she contends that the external responses to Shady are often what drive Shady's anger, disdain, and disregard for societal mores.

1996: INFINITE

Both the quote from Dimitriadis about the influence of gangsta-ism on hip-hop and the excerpt from Pandemonium Online on Eminem's use of Shady provide an excellent framework for looking at Eminem's rapping styles before and after he achieved fame. Eminem made one album without his alter ego, but stilliittle is known about his rap style before Shady. This first solo effort Infinite (1996) was not as successful as the recent albums that have brought him both hip-hop and non-hip-hop acclaim. On Infinite, Eminem moved away from the traditions that had been established by previous rappers and avoided any overt use of street-related themes. Instead, much of the content was based on boasting about the superiority ofhis rap skills and the challenges he faced as an underground artist. While boasting is an essential part of emceeing, ever since NWA introduced street themes to rap, boasting has been reinforced through thug narratives. At this point in his career, however, Eminem had not created the Shady persona, and as such, Infinite has a positive, upbeat tone, especially when compared to Em's major-label albums. In addition, he refrains from making direct references to and about his anger for his parents, his wife, and the many haters he refers to on his albums as Slim. In fact, even references to his whiteness are absent from Infinite, as are mentions ofbarriers this might have placed on his hip-hop career. That is not to say that the subject of race is taboo on this album. Looking back at the work on this album, knowing his early rap history, and the consensus that had developed about white rappers, we can assume that much of the disrespect Eminem describes is race-related criticism rather than opinions ofhis emcee skills. At many times, Eminem alludes to other rappers having problems with him rapping; however he does not relate their dislike ofhim directly to his whiteness. The chorus of"Open Mic," rapped by Thyme, could be seen as raising the issue of who is entitled to rap: "Ayo, who the fuck passed you the mic and said that you can flow?lPoint him out bitch, 1 want to know." In

65 response, Eminem refers to his battling and freestyle skills:

Jacking lives ofMC's, now l'm set to launch a plan For blowing up the stage with illegal contraband 1 stomped your man so unless you want what he got You better set the mie down, l'm steaming like a teapot 1'11 make the tea hot, people get in my face and ask If1 wanna battle, then 1chase them in a Jason mask It's an amazing task to battle with success 1never gave a fuck, now 1could give a fuck less And in a slugfest 1 get physicallike physicians Invisible like magicians with mystical mie traditions

This kind of disrespect, or perhaps, more correctly, Em's search and desire for respect, is a continuaI theme on this album. Like most artists that must seek success in their local scenes before they can enter mainstream markets, Eminem raps about the barriers that other rappers set in his path, which proved detrimental to his career at that time. Incidentally, Eminem does not ever state directly where this disrespect is rooted, and, as with "Open Mie" responds to Thyme in a rather un-Eminem, non-violent manuer. If Eminem had been responding through Shady, he would have threatened Thyme with bold-faced intimidations of violence and forthright rhymes boasting his skills. Furthermore, while avoiding specifie references to skin colour (possibly because of the baggage that is attached to white rappers), on "Open Mie" Eminem still makes several references that could imply that this disrespect was rooted in racial issues. For instance, he raps that he blows up the stage with an "illegal contraband" (a white person with strong rap skills) and also refers to his "invisibil[ity]" perhaps as acknowledgement of how he was passed over for recognition consistently because his skin colour was seen as evidence that he could not rap. The connection to his Detroit underground roots on Infinite are also portrayed in a different manner from his major-label work since Eminem makes more references to competing in (and often winning) freestyle battles, whereas his work on The Sfim Shady LP (1999) and The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) placed more emphasis on the disrespect he received in the underground. These references are dispersed throughout the album, such as on "Infinite" when he raps, "[c]ause there's a monster in me that will always want to kill MCs/Mic messaler, slamming like a wrestler" and on "Tonite" with rhymes about his future success, "Eminem is heading skyward/For those who thought that 1 would

66 make you bored/and treat you like a piece of plywood/I've got miracle lyrical capability in me/With the agility to escape a killer bee colony." Even through "313" (Detroit's area code) is about the superior skills of"sweet Mes in the 313," Eminem raps about how his skills bring the fans into the building, while softer rappers cower in the corners. This focus on freestyling is important to Infinite because, as with his more CUITent albums, it situates where Eminem was in his career and his personal life. Thus, the focus is on striving to plan for his future and his family through what he hopes will become a (financially) successful rapping career. While Eminem steered clear of race issues, this was not the only thing that was different about his style on Infinite. The beats and rhythms were quite different from the Eminem-Dre productions, using softer, less catchy, and less noticeable backdrops to the songs. Most importantly, he delivers these rhymes in a steady, softer voice that sometimes sounds hopeless. Although he does not use a monotonous tone, his nasalized, sarcastic, and angry voices are missing from the album. This enhances the bragging content of the songs because it allows the listener to focus on how Em says his rhymes, rather than becoming distracted by other elements. Even Eminem's songs about his ex-wife Kim are different. In a complete about-face, "Searchin'" is a soft, tender love song3 in which he dec1ares his love to a woman (whom we assume is Kim, although there are no actual references to her name), reminding her that his "intentions are good" and that he's "eager to be [her] man legally wed." Further absent are the sassiness, satire, and the ironie and dark humour;4 this can be related to his not-yet-developed use of voices, along with the no-holds barred umepentant attitude of a gangsta. In fact, sorne of Eminem's work here could be interpreted as criticizing the ideals supported by gangsta rappers. On the track "Infinite" for instance, Eminem raps about staying away from the violent, thug lifestyle that Black rappers usually depict on their albums. Instead of using the familiar street-related situations, Eminem's lyrics examined the difficulties associated with being an unknown hip-hop artist as weIl as the numerous other struggles he faced while toiling in minimum wage jobs and the music industry. On "I1's OK," he discusses his disdain over kids using guns to steal clothing from other kids and his fear about his brother running into drug addicts ("My little brother's trying to learn his mathematicsiHe's asthmatic, running

67 home from school away from crack addictslKids attract static, children with automatics/Taking target practice on teens for Starter Jackets."). Eminem's personal avoidance of the thug 1ife, like that of Black youth who find their solace on basketball courts or in hip-hop, came through his preference for emceeing over gang-banging: "1 never packed a too1 or acted cool, it wasn't practical/I'd rather lead a tactful, tractical track for your fancy." Furthermore, Eminem discusses how quitting drugs helped his rap career ("1 quit smokin' cess to open my chest") and how religion saved him from a 1ife of crime: "But in the midst of this insanity, 1 found my Christianity/Through God there's a wish he granted me/He showed me how to cope with the stress/And hope for the best, instead ofmope and depressed." Present on this album, a1though still not deve10ped to its CUITent leve1, was the wit, embedded within tight metaphors and lyrics about the all-too familiar narrative ofa life of poverty, delivered at a tempo and metre that, even then, would have been virtually unparalleled by other emcees. In moving from one line to the next, Eminem rare1y makes pauses or takes time to breathe; instead, the lines ofeach song flow together, in a string­ 1ike fashion, creating a rhythmic, masterful use of his effortless, fast-paced rap style. Even at this early stage in his solo career, Eminem's speed, tempo, and the smooth delivery of such complex rhyming patterns and syllables are undeniable. Eminem often shows offthese skills (as he does to present day) by rhyming words that wou1d not rhyme together ordinari1y, changing syllable emphasis and altering word pronunciation to make the rhyme work better: "cu1prit" with "skull split," "miraculous" and "Dracu1as" with "whack you was" and "hatchet" with "scratch it" on "Tonite;" on "313" he rhymes "packed to capacity" with "crack of his ass shitty;" and on "Never 2 Far" he changes rhyming patterns in order to connect seven 1ines:

Cause man l live in the D, this shit ain't given for free Nothing's different to me, so what, ifs easy to see 1'11 be the prisoner to flee, a11 ofthis misery l'm not wishing to be another fish in the sea But just an MC, so listen to me, but ifvou disagree Vou missing the key, you ain't even in the brisk ofthe tea Unconditiona11y, my aspects to cash checks

These kinds of rhyming patterns are best displayed on the aforementioned "Infinite," which incidentally is what Em (2000: 135) believes is his tightest work on this

68 album. (1 would have to agree). Here, the fonn of the song is more central than the content, a throwback to rap's earlier days when the way of storytelling was more important than the story itself. This is more of a "show-your-skill" song but the boasting here is quite different from "Open Mic" or any of the other boast tracks on this album. Instead, the flow, delivery, and use of metaphors cause "Infinite" to stand out from the other songs on the album: "1 greet intensive ladies, 1 spoil all YOUf fans/I foil plans and leave fluids leaking like oil bands/My coil hands around this microphone lethaVOne thought in my cerebral is deeper than a Jeep full ofpeople" and "My thesis will smash a stereo to pieces/My acapella releases plastic masterpieces through telekinesis/And eases you mentally, gently, sentimentally, instrumentally/With entity, dementedly meant to be Infinite." The use of biography is another area in which Infinite differs from Eminem's more popular work. Since most of the album is reserved for boasting about his skills, details about his personal life are not needed to support this content. As 1 mentioned earlier, while this album does infonn listeners about Eminem's personal situation, he does not use biography as extensively as he does now. Listeners do not know details about his relationship with the woman to whom he is professing his love, nor are they aware ofthe name ofthe daughter he mentions. His references to his underclass roots are also different from his current work, because he raps about how he plans to change this condition (through legal means of employment). The personal details are kept to a minimum; listeners are told just enough to see to see that his connection to hip-hop is not based solely on his emcee skills, but on his personal hardships (This is extremely important because ofthe lingering hard feelings that exist from the experience with Vanilla Ice.). As a result, the stories Eminem tells are not as interesting as those that come in his later work. However, the lack of personal narrative guides listeners indirectly to focus on Eminem' storytelling methods. Unfortunately, while the work on Infinite was quite rich and thoughtful, it was not well received and did not help propel Eminem into stardom.

1997 & 1999: THE SLIM SHADY ALBUMS

The tone and feel to Eminem's second solo effort in 1997 are so different from those of Infinite that an entirely different artist could have released it. Indeed, this is

69 almost the case, as an irate, revenge-seeking thug on The S/im Shady EP has replaced the young man with a positive outlook from Infinite. Since Infinite had been dismissed as a Vanilla Ice sequel and Eminem had been criticized for what was seen as imitating the style of Nas or AZ, Eminem's rap abilities, in tum, were also undermined. Eminem's perception of a colour-based criticism he1ped to fuel his anger, the creation of his second independent album, and the construction of his alter ego, Slim Shady. Eminem explains how he made the transition from the positive rapper on his first album to the nihilistic Slim Shady persona on his second:

My first album is a combination of everything 1went through during my first couple of years as a frustrated emcee. 1 wanted the public to have the perception of me as a carefree kid who has a lot of problems but tries not to think of them. 1 wanted people to feel my pain, but to say to them that it's aight. 1 don't sweat it. Sort of saying that my life was fucked up, but it really didn't bother me. Thing was, the more 1started writing and the more 1slipped into this Slim Shady character, the more it just started becoming me. My true feelings were coming out, and 1 just needed an outlet to dump them in. 1 needed sorne kind ofpersona. 1needed an excuse to let go ofaIl this rage, this dark humor, the pain, and the happiness. (2000: 3)

The S/im Shady EP (1997) and Slim Shady persona are heralded as the e1ements that gave Eminem his big break. While Shady does calI attention to the important issues of perceptions of class and poverty where race are concemed, l feel the creation of this alter ego is, more importantly, a strategie move to improve Eminem's position in the hip­ hop community. In integrating hip-hop cool into the performance of a rap alter ego, a change that can also be linked to his increased use of biography, Eminem applies the example of young black males attempting to survive on the streets to his own "survival" within the hip-hop community. Ris uses ofpersonal and fictional biography also become more prominent, as listeners are now aware ofhis legal name ("If! Rad"), his daughter's name ("Just the Two ofUs" which becomes "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" on 1999's The S/im Shady LP), and begin to realize that the rapper is white. The album thus takes on atone which is angrier and sadder than that ofInfinite, as Eminem links his struggles as a rapper to his inability to provide for his family. On The SSEP, Eminem also begins to employ CUITent events (by cele-baiting), calIs attention to America's social disintegration, and establishes Shady's "Just Don't Give a Fuck" attitude through a hit single of the same name. In folIowing the path of gangsta rappers before him, he directs Shady's anger and

70 violence toward women (especially his wife, whose body is dumped in the Detroit River on "Just the Two of Us"). Once again, these changes are associated with his struggles in hip-hop. Shady is angry with his wife, who does not respect him because of his financial troubles, which exist because of the way that society views the underc1ass. Eminem uses all ofthese elements to justify his, or more correctly Slim Shady's, negative attitude. The first track on The SSEP, "Intro (Slim Shady)," is essential to understanding and recognizing how the Slim Shady alter ego is constructed from Infinite's Eminem. It is a skit that begins with music you might find right before the c1imactic point in a B-horror flick. At start, there is an ominous voice calling out to a terrified Eminem. The track leads directly into the EP's first full length song "Low, Down, Dirty" where Eminem introduces Slim Shady's nihilism and self-hatred: "Warning! This shit's gon be R-rated, restrictedIYou see this bullet hole in my neck? It's self-inflictedlDoctor slapped my momma, "bitch you got a sick kid." Due to this transition, the second track's subject manner, and our familiarity with Slim Shady, it is safe to assume that the unidentifiable voice on the intro track is Slim Shady.

[Shady] Eminemmmmm ... [Eminem] Nnnnoooo ... [Shady] EMINEMMMMM . [Eminem] NNNNOOOOOO . [Shady] HA HAAA. Wake the fuck up motherfucker! [Eminem] (screaming) What do you want from me? [Shady] HA HA HAA! Remember me? [Eminem] l KILLED VOU! [Shady] You thought l was dead, didn't you? [Eminem] What do you want from me? [Shady] l'm aliiiveeeee! [Eminem] OHHHHGOD! [Shady] Get up! [Eminem] NNNOOOO ... [Shady] Get up and look in the mirror! [Eminem] l don't want to!!! [Shady] Look in the mirror (leave me alone!) and see this reflection. [Shady] AH HA-HA! Look in mirror! ... You're NOTHING.... You're NOTHING without me! Look in the motherfuckin' mirror! [Eminem] Leave me the fuck alooooonnneeeee! (ends with mirror breaking)

1 believe that the voice on this track and thus, Eminem himself convey the belief that white rappers are nothing in the hip-hop world without sorne kind of street credibility. The Shady we are introduced to on this album is a drug-using, trigger-happy, unstable

71 a1coholic who hates not only women and authority figures, but practically everyone who has, or ever will, cross his path. Further differentiating The SSEP from Infinite are the ways in which Eminem's lyrical abilities are no longer highlighted and emphasized; rather, they are hidden behind the Slim Shady narrative. This allows Em to better convey Slim's thug attitude. In addition, to support the changes and additions to Eminem's rap narrative, there is a remarkable shift in the musical beats and the way in which the lyrics are delivered. Due to the shift to street-related themes and traits, the album has an overall harder edge, which is supported by the beats, musical choices, and the irate tone to Eminem's narrative and rap delivery. Another addition to The SSEP, although not used as extensively as on his major­ label work, is Em's use ofdiffering tones and voices. Eminem also begins to dabble with elements of parody and play (1 look at this closely in the following chapter), which can also be attributed to the emergence ofSlim Shady. Even Eminem's boast tracks are different, as they are entwined in a narrative of mayhem and ofthe danger Slim Shady is capable ofposing. Eminem is well aware ofthe uniqueness Shady gives him and follows up the statement, "There's no one who's identical to my fresh and authentic flow," that he made on "Tonite" (from Infinite) with "And ifyou hear a man that sounds like me smack him/and ask him where the fuck did he get his damn raps from" on "Low, Down, Dirty." This line is important because Eminem indicates that his style is unique and thus responds to those who accused him ofsounding like other rappers by revealing that, in this instance, it is the other rapper, and not him, who "stole" this style. The Dr. Dre-produced S/im Shady LP (1999) was Eminem's first album after signing with Aftermath Records. As with 1997's The SSEP, Shady plays a significant narrative role. Eminem takes this persona through a variety of subjects, such as "encouraging" the use of date rape drugs in "Guilty Conscience" and reminding his listeners about the effects of teen bullying on victims in "Brain Damage" where he describes a fantasy-revenge sequence on one of his own bullies. Furthermore, Eminem also makes numerous references to his death (or, perhaps the death of the Eminem from Infinite) and resurrection as Slim Shady. As 1 indicated above, the emergence of Slim Shady marks an incredible shift in Eminem's work and in rap music in terms of

72 biography. While 2Pac and Biggie were praised for their use of personal biography, Eminem creates a biography around a fictional alter ego, one that allows him to perform the identity ofa thug without being perceived as appropriating the use ofblack or hip-hop cool in an erroneous manner. Eminem keeps this biography going throughout most ofhis major-label work by referring back to lines and other personas that he mentions on previous songs. Regular listeners of Eminem's work should be able to identify these characters and experiences from Shady's past, in this way, Eminem establishes a personal background for Shady. The tone ofthis album contains sorne harder-edged tunes (even harder than on the EP, but this can be traced to stellar production from Dr. Dre) and sorne much more sombre moments, with Eminem reflecting on his personal struggles with poverty ("Rock Bottom"). AlI of these bring his listeners "c1oser" to sharing the experiences of young men, regardless of skin colour, who deal with the struggles ofpoverty on a regular basis. ln this song, Eminem reflects on the personal biography of Marshall Mathers, describing his struggles as a toiling rap artist with a young family. This is relayed through a touching sense of distraught emotion and passion that Eminem had not used as effectively on his earlier albums. For instance, Eminem describes the constant struggles ofpeople who live in poverty, in a manner which recalls the stories that black rappers have used to describe their own lives before their rap careers took off: "My life is full of empty promises/And broken dreams/Hopin' things look up/But there ain't no job openings/I feel discouraged, hungry, and malnourished/Living in this house with no fumace, unfumished" ("Rock Bottom"). As the changes from Infinite (1996) to The SSEP (1997) can be seen as a response to criticism ofthe former, several ofthe additions to The SSLP (1999) can also be seen in this manner. The first track from the EP is replaced with a "Public Service Announcement," which jokingly wams that this album is not for children. This is followed by the catchy hit single "My Name Is," both ofwhich are even more effective at relaying Shady's attitude than the EP's Intro/"Low, Down, Dirty" combination. There are also numerous references to Eminem's perceived ill-effect on children in "Role Model," "Still Don't Give A Fuck," and "l'm Shady." Eminem's skill boasting also undergoes a slight change. In reference to his rapping speed he raps (quite angrily) that ''l'm ducked

73 the fuck down while l'm writin this rhyme/cause l'm probably gonna get struck with lightnin' this time" ("Still Don't Give A Fuck"). On "Rock Bottom" in an opposite sombre tone, he relates the lack of respect for his skills to his financial situation: ''l'm a nervous wreckl1 deserve respect/But l work a sweat for this worthless checkIBout to burst this tech, at somebody to reverse this debt." Eminem also shows offhis ability to switch from one voice to another more frequently than on ms two previous albums. Aside from the voice on "Rock Bottom," we are also introduced to the popular nerdy, nasalized voice that Eminem often uses to point hypocrisies, as a humour device, or to depict irony on "My Name Is" and, in "Still Don't Give A Fuck" Eminem uses a voice that is harsh and brash to depict his anger and umepentant attitude.

2000: THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP

The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), Em's second album after he signed with Dre's label, can be seen as Eminem's reply to the media and public's responses and all of the negative hype following The SSLP. From the intro, "Public Service Announcement 2000" to the final song "Criminal," Eminem achieves a level oftextual maturity throughout the entire album that was not found on The SSLP. While more serious in nature, through much of The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem shows that he places much emphasis on the responses to his music, but he does this through repeated references that he does not care about what others think about his work. Neil Strauss explains: The great joke of "The Marshall Mathers LP" is that it begins with an announcement saying that Eminem doesn't care what anyone thinks about him and then continues with song after song revealing a thin-skinned rapper who is obsessed with every comment made about him. ... Thus, we 1eave Eminem at a critica1 juncture, in danger of becoming a se1f-perpetuating response loop: he creates controversia1 music, is criticized for it and then makes even more controversia1 music in response. (Strauss 2001)

While the album appears to follow the same sequence as The SSLP, the content, rhyming patterns, and use of voice are more mature and deliberate on The MMLP. Here, Em shows us a more grown-up, sarcastic, and angry Slim Shady, however, he is also wiser, more controlled, and thus better able to "diss" detractors in his rhymes. Though he avoids overusing the nasalized voice(s) from his previous album, Em still demonstrates the vocal talents at his disposaI. The album is de1ivered in a wide range of tones: the harshness of "The Way l Am," the playfulness of "Under the Influence," the heart-

74 rending poignancy of "Stan," and the string of multiple voices he uses in one stretch of "Criminal." Eminem (2000: 4) explains these changes in Angry Blonde:

It got to a point where I wasn't just worried about getting the rhyme out sayin' it, I was worried about my pronunciation, about saying shit with authority, or even sometimes saying it sofdy. That's why I played with the mie a lot more on The Marshall Mathers album. I didn't just say my lyrics in one tone, spit the verse and that was it. I 1eamed to play with my voice. I made it do more things that I didn't really know I cou1d do. [...] After The Marshall Mathers LP I upgraded everything. Flow, rhyme character, and the who1e shebang.

Two of the most common subjects on the album are the literaI interpretation of Eminem's work and his response to appeals that he fix the harmful content in his lyrics. Eminem was criticized severely for what he did on The SSLP. He responds by pointing his finger at the absurdities ofseeing him as sorne kind ofrole mode! for his younger fans and by launching attacks at his pop-star status. In "l'm Back" he uses Slim Shady to rap about how both he and the persona have evolved into "heroes" for kids who connect to rebellious music: "1 take each individual degenerate's head and reach into it/just to see if he's influenced by me ifhe listens to music/And ifhe feeds into this shit he's an innocent victimland becomes a puppet on the string of my tennis shoe." The majority of The MMLP's songs, therefore, target either directly or indirectly the media and the cultural or political criticism that wouId have Eminem take more responsibility for the subjects and words in his rhymes. In "Who Knew," Em relays his uneasiness with fame and his disbeliefover his quick rise to the echelons ofmainstream pop-music:

How many retards'lllisten to me And run up in the schoo1 shootin' when they're pissed at a Teach-er, her, him, is it you, is it them? "Wasn't me, Slim Shady said to do it again!" Damn! How much damage can you do with a pen? Man, l'mjust as fucked up as you wou1da been Ifyou was in my shoes, who wou1da thought Slim Shady wou1d be somethin' that you wou1da bought That wou1d make you get a gun and shoot at a cop Ijust said it -I ain't know ifyou'd do it or not

The theme of The MMLP, therefore, is life after fame, for Eminem, Marshall Mathers, and Slim Shady. Since he can no longer rap about poverty, he raps about how the success of The SSLP created unforeseen changes that he has difficulty adjusting to in his personal and performance lives. For most rappers, the transition from strugg1ing

75 rapper to huge commercial success would have been a daunting one, especially for a white rapper, but Em handles this critical moment with relative ease. Fame did not erase his anger; it dispensed it to other areas. Now, as a member of the privileged upper-class, he faced a new challenge: maintaining his street credibility. His feelings on poverty, violence, and the lack of material wealth he experienced only a few years earlier in his life still form a prominent part of the content of his rhymes, but his outrage has shifted from personal concem over urban poverty to CUITent events, the values of mainstream society, its media, and the perceptions of rappers as thugs. Thus, in "Amityville" (a song about Detroit) Eminem relays how the hardness of Detroit's streets allows him to maintain his street credibility. Since "rap refers its authority to represent back to the hood, gang, or crew, and makes an issue of whether the rapper has stayed true to the members of that constituency" (Sartwell 1998: 166), this song allows Eminem to show that he has maintained his connections to the streets:

That's why we don't call it Detroit, we call it Amityville ('Ville) Vou can get capped after just havin' a cavity filled (filled) Ahahahaha, that's why we're crowned the murder capital still (still) This ain't Detroit this is motherfuckin' Hamburger Hill! (Hill) We don't do drive-bys, we park in front ofhouses and shoot And when the police come we fuckin' shoot it out with them too! That's the mentality here (here) that's the reality here (here) Did l just hear somebody say they wanna challenge me here???

Furthermore, on "Marshall Mathers" he maintains his disdain for the underground perceptions of him, thus showing that despite the disrespect he still receives, he is still aware of what is going on there: "The underground just spunned around and did a 360/Now these kids diss me and act like sorne big sissies/'Oh, he just did sorne shit with Missy/so now he thinks he's too big to do sorne shit with MC Get-Bizzy'." Though Eminem does continue to represent the hood in his songs, he also reveals how the pressures of success and his quick rise to the top have forced him to change certain aspects of his rhymes (such as the suggestions from record label executives). He both brags about and expresses a dislike of his celebrity status. Thus, Eminem counters his "Real Slim Shady" pop-star status with sorne different beats and lyrics that capture the familiar "Just Don't Give A Fuck" attitude from The SSLP. On the "The Way 1 Am" Eminem raps about fame and record label pressures:

76 l'm so sick and tired ofbeing admired That 1wish that 1would just die or get fired And dropped from my label Let's stop with the fables l'm not gonna be able to Top a "My Name Is ..." And pigeonholed into sorne poppy sensation To cop me rotation on rock-'n-roll stations

Eminem explains that the concept of"The Way 1 Am" came from his label's demands for another Slim Shady song, similar to "My Name Is," Eminem, however, had other ideas. He wrote "The Way 1 Am," because he was "kinda rebelling against the label by letting them know they couldn't force me to do something 1didn't want to" (2000: 89). Thus, while Eminem stresses that he has not overhauled the anger that is essential to his rap style, changes to his boast tracks suggest a slight modification that could be due to changes in his lifestyle. Now that other rappers no longer undermine his rap skills because of his race, Eminem boasts about his unprecedented success and financial gains. Rather than dedicate extensive verses to boasting, he just slips in the occasional line to remind listeners of his success: "I1's funny; 'cause at the rate l'm goin' when l'm thirty/I'll be the only person in the nursin' home flirtin" ("The Real Slim Shady"), starts off "l'm Back" with "1 murder a rhyme one word at a time," and furthermore on "Criminal," he boasts "My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge." Today, few rappers, if any, would be understood if they attempted to spit rhymes as quickly and easily as Eminem. While others may try to imitate this, Eminem counters by incorporating elements ofconfused fictional and personal narratives into the image of a street thug. The changes from each of his albums reveal the need to maintain a fresh, individual voice that is distinctly hip-hop. Since Eminem is white, proving his skills is more difficult than it wouId be for black rappers, since he must show that he deserves to be considered as a "legitimate" member of the hip-hop community on a consistent basis. ln response, Eminem has matured over the course of these four albums, using his voice, narratives, and imagination more effectively. Most importantly, he has managed to maintain a strong line between his pop-star and hip-hop images. While he does not always use the image of a gangsta to relay his hip-hop connections, Eminem upholds his credibility with poignant stories about his childhood, the poverty he experienced, and his constant struggle for respect as an emcee. Furthermore, he does not ignore how fame has

77 affected his life, and incorporates this new narrative into his already existing descriptions of Shady. The creativity that Em puts into developing this Shady character and narrative, although quite obviously elements surrounding a white thug, gives Em that desired individual and therefore credible hip-hop voice.

Notes 1 For a more detailed analysis ofrap's gemes, see Adam Krims (2000). Chapter 2. "A geme system for rap music," in Rap Music and the Poetics ofIdentity. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 46-92). 2 The "E" refers to Eazy-E, the NWA member who rapped this sequence. 3 This song takes on greater significance when we consider the kind of love-song writing that Erninem would put on his subsequent albums, "Just the Two of Us"/'''97 Bonnie and Clyde" and "Kim." On the latter, a prequel to the former, Erninem describes an argument with his wife that ends with her dead, and him throwing her body into the trunk of his car. On "Just the Two ofUs," he and bis daughter dispose of Kim's body in a river. Compare this with Guns n' Roses "Used to Love Her." 4 White and Cones III (1999: 59) describe these attributes as a distinct sound that black performers had used to express their complex views on race, hypocrisy, and social contradictions embedded in American neo­ colonial values.

78 CHAPTER 4: KEEPIN' IT REAL IN A FANTASY WORLD: PERSONA, PARODY, AND PLAY IN EMINEM'S LYRICS

HistoricaIly, hip-hop has is viewed as the culture of urban blacks, and rap, as a term linked to hip-hop, has become recognized widely as a musical form that only blacks can understand or employ correctly (Sernhede 1994: 264). This argument assumes that black individuals should relate to hip-hop culture because of their race, and even though hip-hop has been seen as a "black thing" for about twenty-five years, this remains a volatile contention. However, the precedence established by Vanilla Ice's misappropriation of hip-hop cultural forms is reason enough for the hip-hop community to be suspicious of whites who relate their own underclass connections to a love of hip­ hop. Such opinions have also created a proliferation of opinions both inside and outside the hip-hop community linking the authenticity of hip-hop performance with black urbanity (Baker 1993: 82). Vanilla Ice's false claims of an urban lifestyle resulted in his quick dismissal from hip-hop culture, but his "contributions" set whites years back in terms ofacceptance in the hip-hop community. Despite the many years that have passed since Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby," white rappers continue to deal with credibility issues that are different from those facing other black hip-hop artists. Eminem has proven repeatedly that his connection to hip-hop's urban identity is rooted in personal experiences and has even shown that his style is as far from Vanilla Ice as say, that of Snoop Dogg from Public Enemy's. Critics overlook Eminem's pure emcee skills and direct their attention toward issues of authenticity and belonging in hip-hop. As credibility in the hip-hop community can be fleeting, often disappearing as quickly as it appears, aIl rappers must prove continually that they have the skills to adapt as hip-hop itself evolves. However, as a white rapper, Em continues to be evaluated under a set of standards different from those applied to other rappers. Thus, Eminem is always in need of new ways to demonstrate that he deserves hip-hop respect, an the while acknowledging that the next time out he has to be just that much better. ln this chapter, 1 evaluate how the elements of parody, persona, and play allow Eminem to stand apart from other rappers and thus maintain his credibility as a hip-hop star. His skilled use of these elements permit him to float around in the grey area that exists between his fantasy and real worlds. While this ambiguity between his public

79 images is a critical part of his work, through which most of his critics search for aspects of truth, Eminem himself does not pretend that these narratives should be interpreted as real. In fact, he reserves much of his current Slim Shady work to chide those who take what he says as real. In incorporating "black" traits in a fictional white body, Shady exposes the hypocrisies and contradictions within views that define whites and blacks in opposition, thus exposing the latent racism that supports the dominant structure. Eminem's creation of multiple personalities allows him to move about freely, adopting the traits ofa gangsta in sorne songs, the nerd, the doting father, and even the inner-child who deals with parental abandonment issues through the angst and pain of a young man with deep emotional scars. Finally, nothing and no one is safe from Eminem's parody­ not even Eminem himself - as everyone, his mother, his critics, other artists, and his status as a super-star white rapper have becorne the prime targets ofhis SCOffi.

SHADY CREATIVITY TO MAKE ITIN THE RAP GAME

In the May 2000 Rolling Stone review of Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), columnist Touré offers high praise for what the rapper delivers on the album that would go on to sell over 17 million copies worldwide.\ In naming Eminem's 1yrica1 complexity, humour, and disaffection as prime reasons for the album's superiority, Touré claimed that Eminem's assertions that his disturbing imagination caters to the need for over-sensationalist hype is not as far-fetched as his critics would have us believe. In the midst of this review, Touré puts forward a strong theoretical backdrop for examining the difficulties Eminem will always face even though he shows strong skill levels and makes insightful contributions to hip-hop culture:

[Eminem] is, simply, better than any MC in hip-hop except for Jay-Z - yes, better than Beanie Siegel, Pharoahe Monch, Snoop, Common, Prodigy, Xzibit, Redman, Big Pun, and aIl of the Lox. It feels dangerous to think of a white boy nearing the aesthetic zenith of the celebration of black maleness called hip-hop, but just as blacks have to be twice as good to get ahead in life, to get ahead in hip-hop Eminem has had to be twice as ill.

Touré's description provides an interesting way of examining how Eminem has changed the rap game. Indeed, his crazed imagination, parody-styled lyrics, narratives, and creation of persona have allowed him to make innovative contributions to hip-hop narrative. While fantasy has always played an important role in rap - despite what rap's

80 critics would have you believe, most rappers are not pulling gats on unsuspecting citizens in between recording hit records - Eminem uses this fantasy aspect differently from studio gangstas. His most bizarre stories are often told from the perspective of the fictional, sometimes-gangsta-sometimes-nerdy alter ego Slim Shady, who allows Eminem to achieve hip-hop success through a rap style that is identifiable as neither distinctly black nor specifically white. Instead of strutting an overt self-assurance - an essential trait for rappers - Em tends to convey the exact opposite state in most of his lyrics. Through self-ridicule, his self-depreciating lyrics often display a relative unease in dealing with his success and incredulity at how the content of his rhymes have been perceived by society. More importantly, through Shady, 1 believe that Eminem dispels certain myths that see social antagonism, economic and social poverty, and a deviant public image as personality traits typical of black youth only. The key difference between Shady and black youth is skin colour; that aside, the experiences based on feelings of racial exclusion, lack of family support, and dysfunctional views on love all drive Shady/Eminem/Marshall Mathers in a similar manner to other black rappers. In merging parts of his personal biography with Shady's fictional narrative, Eminem points to media biases where white families are concemed, as well as middle America's presumptions about black and white men, the poverty-stricken, and the underclass. Thus, Shady is not just a representative of thugs from the inner-city but, to the horror of most members of the dominant group, he is also the voice ofAmerica's middle-class children:

Eminem's not the first rapper to have bad or no relations with a parent. DMX has spoken about his mother with similar disdain. 11' s the same pain that inspired WC and Madd Circle's "Fuck My Dad," Jay-Z's "Where Have Vou Been" (featuring Beanie Sigel) and many others. But usually, the representation ofwhite American families in the media is more balanced, with more emphasis on the nuclear ideal (husband, wife and 2.5 kids). Eminem however, informs us that dysfunction isn't just limited to Marcy and South Philly baby boys. (Parker 2002: 118)

Eminem's ability to tread between the black and white perceptions of race has called into question the validity ofthe race dichotomy in the US that defines whiteness as "pure" and blackness in opposite terms (Sartwell 1998: 15). This binary has always been supported by rap images that depict black men as gang members and black women as

81 unwed mothers, thus handing white Americans the ammunition they need to oppress blacks and suppress blackness. Rap, however, has usually employed stereotypes as a way of confronting the stereotypes (which is lost on most of its critics and teen consumers). Eminem also uses stereotype as a tool, reverts both white and black stereotypes by acting in what is perceived as a black manner, and thus threatens the positive image that white Americans have developed for themselves. Cripsin Sartwell (ibid. 14) explains that race in the US is conceived through a "rigid dichotomy [in which one] must turn out to be black or white" (emphasis added). Consequently, when Eminem employs a "black style" to reveal that he has always felt alienated from the "white lifestyle," many white people become uncomfortable and feel betrayed. Thus, Sartwell can argue that "what we seek to make visible in black folks by an amazingly elaborate and public1y conducted process of enforcement is precisely what [whites] seek to make invisible in [themselves]; to see the real criminal, [whites would] have to look in the mirror" (ibid. 190). This mirror is no longer a necessity with Eminem, which explains why he receives so much attention from critics. Since Eminem insists that hip-hop has always been an important part of his white life, other white people who have denied systematically that hip-hop bears a connection to whites are forced to confront the fact that segregation along the lines ofcolour may not be relevant anymore. As Sartwell also explains, this act of looking in the mirror makes the "oppressor visible to himself as an oppressor ... [removing] the shroud of generality in which white culture wraps black bodies" (ibid. Il). Peter McLaren further reiterates Sartwell's concems in a direct relationship with rap music:

Rap is a powerful offensive medium in the way that it raises havoc with white middle-class complicity in and complacency with institutionalized racism; ... it ruptures consensual images of blacks whom middle-class whites wish would "know their place." ... Rap unmakes feelings of security and safety in middle-class homes and neighbourhoods. It indexes areas of concrete rage and generalized despair that are normally hidden from the official view of American democracy. (McLaren 1999: 36.)

Since white culture is based on the rejection of everything associated with blackness (i.e. whites are not ruled by bodily desires), it is "continually threatened by the re-eruption of what has been ejected [from white culture], which also constitutes its deepest desire" (Sartwell 1998: 187). The denial of this deep-seeded desire, Sartwell argues in a tint-person account, is the crux ofrap's commodity culture: "in yeaming to be

82 [my favourite rappers], 1 am yeaming to be what 1 am not, or yeaming to be what 1 have exc1uded from myself; 1 am yeaming to becorne my other" (ibid. 184). Again, we can assess how Sartwell's personal comments relate to the new teen experience with Eminem. These white kids who idolize Em are no longer "yearning to be what they are not," but wanting to be like the white rapper who "belongs" in hip-hop. Eminem is not "their other"; thus, this connection to him can be seen in different terms as well. Furthermore, Sartwell states: "[r]ap peddles these desires to white culture as commodity, but that in itself constitutes an act ofresistance; it is an artful destruction ofwhite culture that is also the self-destruction of white culture. We are now confronted with the other in ourselves; our children purchase it and desire it (that is, desire to desire)" (ibid. 187). Between 2000 and 2001, Neil Strauss, a New York Times music critic and one of Eminem's biggest supporters, wrote consistently about his respect and admiration not only for The Marshall Mathers LP but also for the ways in which Eminem shapes his music to show that he is a symptom of society, rather than the root of its problems. In attempting to locate why so many people hoId such negative views of Em's work, he found that many ofthe people with whom he spoke based their opinions on what they had heard about Eminem through other sources. Strauss uses these findings to explain the over-sensationalized hype over Em's Shady persona: "Thus, the story of a persona or artwork diverges more and more from its reality as it is perpetuated and embellished" (Strauss 2001). Furthermore, Strauss likens much of Eminem's persona/parody-work to the roles played by actors, indicating that Eminem is no more responsible for Shady's actions than Anthony Hopkins is for those of Hannibal Lecter: "Eminem is playing a character, a very flawed one, and it is to his credit as a writer and performer that he plays it so convincingly. True, the character may have an element of the real Eminem in him, but for sorne that is often what art is for, finding a constructive outlet for certain antisocial tendencies" (ibid). Today, the Slim Shady persona is a defining aspect ofEminem's success. Eminem works this aspect offiction into his work by maintaining a level of confusion as to where one persona ends and the other begins. By shifting skilfully between his various identities at will, Eminem succeeds in an area where previous white rap artists, such as Vanilla Ice and the Beastie Boys, have had less success. He is thus able to adopt the traits associated

83 with the lifestyle of underclass black youth (important for his hip-hop credibility) within the presence of a "disaffected white boy" (an important part of his marketability to suburban teens) as prime aspect of his rhymes. Eminem also uses his three self­ referencing personas2 (Slim Shady, Eminem, and Marshall Mathers) to re-affirm his connection to the inner-city and the lifestyle associated with ghetto youth, as well as to claim a place as a legitimate hip-hop force. These characters are changed depending upon the feelings Eminem is trying to portray and in relation to changes occurring in the hip­ hop community. While the mobility ofthese characters can be used to suggest that hip-hop identity has become an artificial and constructed matter of choice, a theory 1 borrow from post­ modemism (Kellner 1991: 153), the fictionalization of identity has always played a significant role in hip-hop performance. Rappers usually adopt a performance name that becomes an essential part of their rap identity. Briefly, the tradition of adopting performing names can be traced all the way back to b-boy culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s when graffiti artists, wanting recognition for their work but unable to sign their legal/govemment names, developed tags to prevent getting caught. These tags became linked to the graffiti artist's identity and were recognizable to members of the hip-hop community. Furthermore, as graffiti art can be seen as a way ofreclaiming public space and forcing white culture to confront blackness/hip-hop culture, tags could be seen as replacing identity in the non-hip-hop world and as defiance ofwhite authority. Rappers have also adopted their performance names in much the same manner as b-boys. Their govemment identities are replaced by their hip-hop image. For instance, LL COOL J (Ladies Love Cool James) often raps about his "powerful" allure over women, which has become an essential part ofhis hip-hop performance image. Rap names/tags can illicit fear, such as the "Big Pun(isher)" and "C-Murder," or show the rapper's defiance of societal norms, such as "The Pharcyde" and "Ludacris." Rappers have also developed aliases for their performance names (Jay-Z has Jigga and (Jay)-Hovah). Eminem, however, uses his rap performance identity in a different manner from other rappers. He has developed and refined Slim Shady's personality over the course ofhis albums in such a manner that Slim Shady has taken on its own character traits, rooted in "personal" experiences that can be seen separately from those ofEminem/Marshall Mathers. Eminem

84 describes Shady as a flawed, foul-mouthed, wanna-be thug, who tumed to the negative aspects ofhip-hop's street-culture to block out the outside world. Although Eminem does control Shady's actions and re-actions, rather than place the responsibility for this attitude on his own shoulders, he often deflects criticism for what many see as a lack ofmorals and social responsibility toward the public scrutiny, mass media hype, and those same people who pass judgment on him. 1 admit that this kind of separation of his personas creates a multitude of problems; the most obvious is that it eliminates the e1ements of complexity that went into the original creation of these personas and which remains as Eminem continues to refine their traits. As the narrative around these figures also reveal intricate personas, Foden (2001) also believes that it does Eminem a great disservice to reduce them to one-dimensional characters:

The mistake [Em's] critics make is to see the songs as direct statements made by the singer rather than discrete aesthetic objects. Is it inconceivable that the man who wrote Stan should also want to stab you in the head if "you're a fag or lez"? Not necessarily, but Eminem's critics should "relax a little" as he advises Stan - should consider that this might be an artist toying with the place where celebrity and palatability meet, by passing deliberately the inflammatory statements and by parodying less thoughtful rappers.

Rather than relying exclusively on the cool pose and thug attitude, Em establishes his disdain through spoofs of current events and by revealing disgust over his personal success. Through his style, he can approach certain fears in a manner that is less confrontational visually. For instance, the majority of his videos usually do not exhibit a connection to hip-hop's cool pose. Instead, Eminem forms a portion ofhis Shady identity through the appropriation ofthe identities ofmultiple current event stars,3 insinuating that sorne ofShady's deviance is due to their actions, rather than placing the blame solely with the inner-city lifestyle he experienced during his youth. Thus, he is not just adopting these traits for the purposes of youth rebellion. Most important to understanding the shifting Slim ShadylEminem identities is how, through threats to mainstream morality, these personas can be interpreted as being "intent on dismantling the hierarchy of knowledge and values, undermining all that gives meaning and all that has been erected as paradigm or mode!" (Benko 1997: 8). Em's style disrupts two longstanding models. The first is the way in which manhood is presented and won in hip-hop. Black rappers would hardly admit to taking

85 severe beatings from other kids, however, Eminem discusses this openly, suggesting that this aspect of his (white) life is what drove his love of hip-hop. Since Eminem has redefined the art of battling, other rappers do not want to get involved in a clash of wits with him. While revenge seeking is intrinsic to hip-hop, Eminem's musings about vigil ante justice against his own bullies are exactly that - musings. Despite this, other rappers rarely question Eminem's manhood (again, a purported manhood based on street toughness an essential part ofthe rap image). Second, he disturbs the notion oftraits that are specifie along colour lines. Not only does Eminem use Shady to show the absurdity that certain street-based characteristics have become associated with black urban males, but through for instance, "Guilty Conscience" and "Kill You," he vents an out-of-control hostility that has become a defining part of the both his rap star and Shady persona. As with the stereotypes associated with black youth from the hood, Eminem perforrns Shady as everything negative in excess - violent, evil, and hyper-masculine - combined with his "Just Don't Give A Fuck" attitude. On this single, which first appeared on 1997's The S/im Shady EP, and later on the LP version, Eminem describes Shady's personality traits, which, in retrospect, have shaped how many critics now define Eminem: "Slim Shady, Eminem was the oid initiaIs (Bye-Bye)/Extortion, snortin, supportin abortion/Pathologicai liar, blowin shit out of proportion/The looniest, zaniest, spontaneous, sporadic/Irnpulsive thinker, compulsive drinker, addict/Halfman, halfanimal." The attitude Eminem tries to convey through Shady is that of an unapologetic and uncaring man, which is a key aspect exclusive to this persona. Conversely, when speaking as Eminem, as his work on "Stan," "Who Knew," and "Role Model" shows, he does consider the possible influence of his rhyrnes and Shady persona, just the sarne as "The Way I Am," "Renagade," and "Without Me" are ruminations on Shady's effect on both Eminem and Marshall Mathers. This freewheeling shifting between rap identities is essential to Eminem's success in hip-hop and prevents his marginalization within the hip­ hop community. It affords him the opportunity to demonstrate, not only his rhyrning and lyrical abilities - important skills in rap - but also to show off his aptitude in the blending of the boundary between his real and fictionalized biographies. While these personas provide Eminem with a wide range of styles and complex narrative(s), in the public eye, Eminem and Marshall Mathers ironically, are still seen through their

86 association with Slim Shady. Slim's personality traits have become their personality traits and vice versa. Eminem uses this transfer of personality traits to strengthen his rhymes and further develop his use ofplay. Through incorporating these personas into his lyrics, Eminem further employs the realm of exaggerated fantasy, and through a mocking se1f­ parody is thus able to erase the distinctions between a fictional criminal lifestyle, the struggle as a member ofthe urban underc1ass, and race. Eminem's identities can thus be seen as a criticism of the race dichotomy in the US. In applying a black lifestyle to his white body, Em thus "signaIs the artificiality of identity" (Ke11ner 1991: 153). His creation and (re)construction of Shady's out-of-control attributes are those associated with black ghetto youth; however, in applying these to the fictional white Slim Shady, Eminem also points out society's discriminatory tendencies where such youth are concemed. As a performance, Shady shows that these gangsta traits cannot be limited to black Americans. Since he also articulates and conveys this idea through the emulation of a black sound and acknowledges such contributions to his life, Shady guides the mainstream to acknowledge that the negativity associated with an attraction to a hip-hop lifestyle is no longer race-related: "identity is often constructed ... against dominant conventions and morality; thus, there is something amoral or mora11y threatening about post-modem selves" (ibid. 156, emphasis original). Through his unique style, Eminem also confronts issues around whiteness and hip-hop. He c1aims that he could be one of the children growing up in suburban homes, envisioning various scenarios of revenge on any number of people, and thus assumes a position that creates much more discomfort for his critics. Rather than hide behind his whiteness, Eminem uses it as a tool to incite a fear that is similar to the fear that NWA and other gangsta rappers created around the image of urban blacks. He reminds white society that, despite the condemnation, "there's a Slim Shady in a11 of us" ("The Real Slim Shady") and indicates that Shady is a construction ofthe exact ideals white America wants to keep hidden. Even more threatening is that Eminem exposes these contradictions using a black style, through skin that is very obviously white, with little resistance from the hip-hop community. Unlike Vanilla Ice who was deemed "unfit," a poser, and, more importantly, "uncool" (which more than erased his influence over his white fans), Eminem has the support of not only Dre, Snoop, Xzibit, and Jay-Z, but also that of old

87 school rappers like Chuck D and Rakim. He thus becomes more problematic for white America because the hip-hop community has not "taken care of the problem" by exiling Em. In appreciating his music, his white fans can maintain a "cool" connection to hip-hop culture. AlI ofthese nuances separate Em from other rappers and allow him to accomplish what Simpson (1996: 115-116) describes as the moment of authentic presence: "[t]he only way to praye that you are the best rapper is to daim it in the most creative, provocative, and interesting way. ... There is a quest to continually create new styles, new 'flavours,' and to display the best rhyming skill" (emphasis original).

SLIMATTACKS: EMINEM'S PARODY VICTIMS

Shady, Eminem's most popular persona is also where the rapper shows the most creativity and displays the most potential for violence. Shady can exhibit the personality of a self-conscious nerdy anti-hero such as the identity on "My Name Is" and, at times, that of the out-of-control gangsta who seeks both physical and verbal revenge on his enemies in "Brain Damage." Eminem/Shady are rebels, since they employ blackness as a means of escape, they appeal to the millions of "invisible" teens who believe that this music speaks to them. Eminem describes himself as the kid who was an easy target for bullies: "A kid who refused to respect adults/Wore spectacles with taped frames and a freckled nose/A corny looking white boy, scrawny and always ornery/Cause 1was always sick ofbrawny bullies pickin' on me." In the case of this song, he also creates a fantasy­ revenge sequence directed at a kid who bullied him, using a whiny-nasalized "bratty teen" voice, to depict the position ofa kid who has had enough:

One day he came in the bathroom while l was pissin' And had me in the position to beat me into submission He banged my head against the urinal till he broke my nose Soaked my clothes in blood, grabbed me and choked my throat l tried to plead and tell him, "We shouldn't beef' But he wouldn't leave me, he kept chokin' me and l couldn't breathe He looked at me and said, "You gonna die honkey!" [...] Then l got up and ran to the janitor's storage room Kicked the door hinge loose and ripped out the four-inch screws Grabbed sorne sharp objects, brooms, and foreign tools "This is for every time you took my orange juice, Or stole my seat in the lunchroom and drank my chocolate milk. Every time you tipped my tray and it dropped and spilt. l'm getting you back bully! Now, once and for good."

88 1cocked the broomstick back and swung as hard as 1could And beat him over the head with it till 1broke the wood Knocked him down, stood on his chest with one foot

It should be noted that although there is sorne truth to the first part of this narrative (the bullying), Em's revenge did not occur until it became a part of this song. However, in rapping that he "gets" his bully, Eminem appeals to the teens who want to put a stop to the bullying they face at school. This depiction explains the appeal ofthe Shady persona: "it captures perfectly the feelings of outrage and powerlessness that often accompany ­ indeed, perhaps define - adolescence.... Such an attitude speaks directly to adolescent anomie and rebellion. While surely annoying adults, it isn't evil" (Doherty 2001).

HIS STAR STATUS

Eminem's newest single "Without Me," from his 2002 release The Eminem Show, explores how his Slim Shady persona has taken over aIl of Eminem's images. In it, he explores the hype around Shady, the FCC's attempts at censorship, and the attention he receives from his critics. Far from being one ofhis more "serious songs" Em manages to examine how both he and Shady give these critics an external force to blame for the problems with "their" children. In the chorus, Eminem mocks his critics with a catchy and insightful hook that refers to the targeting of him over other musicians: "Now this looks like a job for me/So, everybody just follow me/Cause we need a little controversy/Cause, it feels so empty without me." Through "Without Me," Eminem manages to stay true to his form, and sticks out his tongue at his critics and his fans:

l've created a monster cuz nobody wants ta See Marshall no more they want Shady l'm chopped liver WeIl ifyou want Shady, this is what 1'11 give ya A little bit ofweed mixed with sorne hard liquor Sorne vodka that'll jump-start my heart quicker than a Shock when 1get shocked at the hospital by the doctor When l'm not cooperating When l'm rockin the table while he's operating

Many of Eminem's songs before "Without Me" deal with his un-ease with fame also indicate that part ofthis discomfort is related to the widespread appeal ofShady:

So, do 1gotta buy a whole block to myself A front door with twelve locks

89 And have a bodyguard walk me out to my mailbox And every time somebody makes a threat, ron and tell cops? Fuck that, 1protect myselfwith these twelve shots And one in the chamber, gun in the waist And one in the ankle, waitin for someone to come to my place Tryin to walk up and knock like these cock suckers are NOT Gonna get a shotgun or a glock shoved in their face? And it's a disgrace that Hailie can't play with her toys In the front yard without you drivin by honkin your horn Screamin sorne shit, leanin out your windows, beepin n shit Or pullin up in my drive like 1won't leapin your whip And so these kids tell their friends and relatives where 1 live So my address ends up on the Internet again So then, 1do an interview with Spin telling them That ifsomeone cornes to my crib, l'ma shove a gun in their ribs And reporters blow it out ofproportion "Oh, now he's pullin guns on his fans Just for tryin to stand on his porch" And l'm the bad guy because 1don't answer my door like "HEY, hi! You guys want sorne autographs? Okay, form a straight line!" Sometimes 1 feellike loadin this rifle And climbin the roofat night and hidin outside to snipe you It's not that 1 don't like you ... It's just that when l'm not behind the mic l'm a person who's just like you - "Don't Approach Me"

The Marshall Mathers LP's "l'm Back" is another song where Eminem raps about his disdain for new, post-fame life. Similar to the theme of "Without Me" it is based on humour and parody, but unlike "Without Me," the parts of "l'm Back" that reveal disillusionment with his new life are told through an angry, fed-up voice. Much of the content on "l'm Back" is Eminem's familiar twisted humour as he condemns the "degenerate heads" that have become manipulated by his music and take what Eminem says as real. He also targets the ever-present and continued public and media eye:

1 used to give a fuck - now 1could give a fuck less What do 1think ofsuccess? It sucks, too much press, stress Too much cess, depressed, too upset Tt' s just too much mess, 1 guess l mustjust blew up quick (yes) Grew up quick (no) was raised right Whatever you say is wrong, what ever 1 say's right You think ofmy name now whenever you say "Hi" Became a commodity because l'm W-H-I-T-E, 'cause MTV was so friendly to me Can't wait till Kim sees me Now is it worth it? Look at my life, how is it perfect?

90 The excerpts from "l'm Back" and "Without Me" are prime examples of where and how Eminem tries to separate himself from gang-banging traditions in hip-hop. Unlike the gangstas from the mid-1990s who embraced the attitude of thugs, although thriving on it, Eminem is also disgusted with it. Despite the numerous ways that he insists that Slim's thug traits exist in a fantasy alter ego, they are still re1ayed to Eminem's other personas. This is precisely what allows Eminem to comment on the hypocrisies and contradictions that exist in society. Each year that he has become more successful, Eminem has refined the images ofhis personas and adapted Slim Shady in relation to his increased popularity. In addition to his use ofpersona, Eminem also uses parody and play within the narratives of his personas to create images that challenge conventions of US society at every tum. Obviously, as fictional characters there has to be a level ofparody within these narratives, however, Eminem also bases his parody on his changing views on American life, his critics (political, cultural or familial), and even his rising popularity.

HIS STATUS A "WIDTE" RAPPER AND A ROLE MODEL

By parodying his whiteness and the dominant perceptions around race-related traits, Eminem creates a distinct method for showing America its racist tendencies where black (inner-city) youth are concemed. Em adopts several traits of a gangsta and shows off the real "face" of poverty, at the same time dispelling certain myths about the supposed superiority of whites, and the purported inferiority of white emcees. In moreover doing so through a fictional alter ego, Eminem reveals that the influence ofhip­ hop culture for white Americans runs deeper than most people want to admit. This kind of parody is effective at reminding America about social disintegration because it pulls away from the perceptions that most white Americans hold about blacks and hip-hop and shows that the effects ofpoverty have touched both sides ofthe American race dichotomy. Sartwell offers a critique of white culture's relation to rap music and hip-hop through stereotype. He argues that stereotype is "a mode of ejection, an attempt to insulate the [white] culture from aspects of its own humanity that it perceives as threatening or bizarre" (1998: 185) and relates this to the negative perceptions associated with poor whites from the Southem US. Thus, just as the culture ofpoor whites from the South stands in opposition to "real whiteness," the white, trailer park trash epithet that we

91 link with Eminem makes this stereotype visible in an inner-city context. Eminem poses a threat to the purity of white culture because he unmasks a weakness in the positive framing of whiteness. Thus, rather than confront the issues of white urban poverty, the dominant white group instead "exposes" Eminem as a social deviant who poses a threat to "our" children. However, Eminem is not just a danger to white children, but more importantly, he is a threat to "'our' values, 'our' children, 'our' culture" (ibid. 187). "What if l was White," is a Sticky Fingaz song featuring Eminem. Both Em and Sticky examine the black-verses-white issue in American life. Black rapper Sticky Fingaz provides the interludes that point to society's double standards for blacks and whites. To introduce this song, Sticky recalls a dream where he was white, but in describing this dream to Shady, he is unable to decide if it was a good dream or a nightmare. He goes through several verses, musing about what life would have been like, had he been born white: "What if l was white skin the same color as cocaine?/Blond hair, blue eyes, the whole shebang/I know one thing; police wouldn't always be watching me/Pull me over for nothing, constantly jockin me/The yellow cabs in the city would stop for me/I wouldn't need collateral to buy property." At the same time as discussing the benefits of whiteness, in one of Sticky's verses, Eminem cuts in to remind listeners how his own experiences with whiteness prove contrary to Stick's beliefs about the better life whiteness would bring:

[Sticky] If1was white It would be a different world for me If! was white (ummmmmmmm?) What shade would 1be? Would 1be Redneck or Skinhead, preppy or high class? [Eminem] YOU PROBABLY LIVE IN A TRAILER PARK AND BE WHITE TRASH!!! HA! HA!

As performance is key to any hip-hop artist, Em also manipulates the responses of the dominant group in society by giving them something and someone controversial enough to talk about, something he addresses openly on "Without Me." In playing upon his critics' responses, Em also identifies their own hypocrisies, indicating that he has become a scapegoat for problems that also exist in their "unscathed" sectors of society. Since he all but admits that he is conforming to generalized way of interpreting rappers, feeding into society's belief that rappers are social deviants, Em's most victimized casualty of parody is his star status. He parodies his personas, Shady and Em, and the

92 perceptions ofthem through poignant self-ridicule and self-depreciation. According to Potter (1995: 134-5) the act of putting hip-hop in the realm of the spectacle is dangerous and impudent at the same time:

[B]y picking up these narratives and Signifyin(g) them, [hip-hop] fUllS the constant risk of being collapsed and conflated within them by those who don't "get" the doubleness of Signifyin(g).... To be a "player," as rappers put it, is to "play" the media game, to have the audacity to raise the stakes even when your hand may be empty. It is this kind ofaudacity that takes hip­ hop attitude to a higher level, as the spectacle enables what might previously have been only isolated acts and "blows them up" on the giant screen of media representation. (emphasis original)

Arguably, no one in music is playin' the media game better than Eminem is right now. He does this so well that even his repeated assertions over the absurdity that his personas have become the voices of today's youth are seen as a further aspect of his parody. Regardless ofhis opinions on this matter, the fact is that Shady has had that harrowing an influence. As most inner-city youth are themselves seen to promote a criminalized lifestyle, often without proof, so too, is Shady seen to embody what inner-city youth seek to have represented. And, just as suburban youth adopt a spirit of rebelliousness as a way of lashing out at their parents, other authority figures, and the expectations placed upon their shoulders, Slim is also seen as a "lost child" directing much anger toward parental and educational figures and political and cultural critics. Unfortunately, as Hutcheon (in Potter 1995: 2) points out, parody and play require a full comprehension of their double-sided nature to succeed. Instead of recognizing the artistic merits in how play takes hip-hop to a new level, rappers become victims of their own parody. They are seen through the narratives they portray, and even when a rapper is up-front about "playin" - something Em does quite frequently - they are still seen through the images generated in their songs. Specifically in relation to play, Hutcheon states, in its obvious and not so obvious forms, play "is a potentially powerful mode of resistance" (ibid.). These subtle and not-so-subtle aspects ofEm's work are often lost on those outside of hip-hop's circles (including sorne of his fans). Most of his younger fans respond to these uses of play and only see the rebellious nature of this, rather than the intricate similes and metaphors Em employs to launch his own criticisms ofsociety. Eminem is at his sardonic best when he points out these misconceptions. One of

93 the best instances of this is in "Words Are Weapons" where he "acknowledges" the volatility of his lyrics. This track can be seen as similar to the "Public Service Announcements" that have opened his first two-major label albums. However, the intention in "Words Are Weapons" is not comedic, but suggests absurdity in the exaggerated interpretations ofhis words. Em delivers "Words Are Weapons" in one ofhis angrier tones and raps about the misconceptions of rap and his own character traits by describing random acts of violence through words that are associated with physical violence. However, he is simply referring to his rap prowess and no real threat ofviolence actually exists, as is the case with the threats of violence in his other songs. This is yet another "show-your-skills" rap song, but it differs considerably from that kind ofwork on his first album Infinite (1996): "My words are weapons/I use 'em to crush my opponents/My words are weapons/I never show no emotion/My words are weapons/I use 'em to kill whoever's steppin' to me/My words are like weaponry on a record." ln tuming this aspect ofthe spectacle back onto society, Eminem plays first, with society's conceptions of the rap artist, and second, with society's understandings of its own norms and mores. The feeling he reiterates in many of his songs is made explicit in "Criminal" where he raps, ''l'm a CriminaV'cause every time 1write a rhyme/these people think it's a crime to tell 'em what's on my mind." Here, Eminem's crimes are much like the crimes he commits on "Words Are Weapons" and the crimes he is seen unfairly as portraying in society. Despite the criticism levelled against him, Em "insists" on producing songs about the very issue of his deviant status that stir up further debates about the effect of his words. Eminem responds to this instant targeting of his music through many ofhis songs by taunting US society. From "The Real Slim Shady":

l'm like a head trip to listen to, cause l'm only givin' you Things you jokes about with your friends inside your living room The only difference is 1 got the balls to say it In front ofy'all and 1don't gotta be false or sugarcoat it at all 1just get on the mie and spit it And whether you like to admit [ERR] 1just shit it Better than ninety percent ofyou rappers out can

CRITICS, SOCIETY, AND PARENTAL NEGLECT

While critics, politicians, and other "protectors" of society misinterpret both his

94 lyrical content and his message, Em takes their misappropriation ofhis content, and tums it back on them. That is, he uses current events and attacks on his personas in his songs, further provoking his detractors to attack his style. Institutional critics and its leaders come under attack frequently, with Bill Clinton, an outspoken critic of not just Eminem but hip-hop culture in general, and his non-presidential activities at the centre of Eminem's scom. In "Who Knew," he raps, "l'm sorry there must be a mix-uplYou want me to fix up lyrics while our President gets his dick sucked?" and about his supposed lack ofmorality, "My morals went thhbbpp when the President got oral/Sex in his Oval Office on top of his desk/Off of his own employee" ("Criminal"). Further during "Criminal," in which he uses a about eight different voices, including four in the first verse alone, Eminem attacks religious groups that often harass him. In one instance, he adopts the voice of a televangelist from Southem USA to become a preacher whose behaviour is far from being indicative of what he preaches to his followers: "Please Lord, this boy needs Jesus/Heal this child, help us destroy these demons/Oh, and please send me a brand new car/And a prostitute while my wife's sick in the hospital." The preacher/congregation allusions here deserve a bit more attention. While senators and other political leaders would have his fans described as little more than Eminem's puppets (Doherty 2001), throughout his songs Eminem ridicules the idea that there are fans who want to imitate his every move. Much like the preacher in "Criminal" whose congregation would be shaken by discovering what he really does, EminemlSlim Shady tries to dispel any suggestions that his fans see him as a preacher of sorts. Further, in targeting President Bill Clinton, who once stood as the representative of America's Presidential Office - a "sacred" position in the US - Eminem adds more evidence for explaining the roots of Shady's deviance. He portrays Clinton in an unfavourable light (descriptions which are far from unfounded) and ponders how EmlShady can become targets ofimmorality when Clinton's image is more tamished than their public images. In the chorus of "Bad Influence" Slim responds directly to remarks about his power on children: "People say that l'm a bad influence/I say the world's already fucked, l'm just addin' to it/They say l'm suicidal/Teenagers' newest idol/C'mon, do as 1 do/Go ahead get mad and do it." In the final verse of the song Eminem comments on how his personal and fictional biographies have become tangled into one and draws on what he

95 labels as unwarranted negative attention to his family life:

l'm not a "Role Model," l don't wanna baby-sit kids l got one little girl, and Hailie Jade is Shady's business And Shady's just an alias l made to piss you off Where the fuck were you when Gilbert's paid me to dishwash4 l made a couple statements and now look how crazy shit got You made me get a bigger attitude than eighty Kim Scotts And she almost got the same fate that Grady's bitch got5 l knew that "Just the Two ofUs" would make you hate me this much And "Just the Two ofUs" That ain't got shit to do with us in our personallife I1's just words on a mic

Eminem's reference to "Role Model" is an interesting song from The S/im Shady LP in which he conveys sorne ridiculous narrative verses about his status as a teen-idol. Again, this is a parody ofhis role model status, which is quite obvious from the content in the verses (he admits that he murdered Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman and even rips out Vanilla Ice's blonde dreads). Again, these are the kinds ofsongs for which Em is often lambasted in the media because first, he has the potential to corrupt children with rhymes such as: "Follow me and do exactly what the song says/Smoke weed, take pills, drop outta school, kill people and drink!And jump behind the wheellike it was stilllegal" and second, he is perceived as disrespecting what is considered as the "proper" way of behaving. At the same time, however, he also points to the fact that much of what he spews offis so outrageous that anyone who believes him is even more messed up than he is (i.e. the obsessed fan in "Stan"). Em's critics miss these aspects of his parody of US society and place too much responsibility in Em's hands. 1 think the main teen-appeal ofEm's music is that he is the funniest figure to come out of popular music in the longest time. From "Got pissed and ripped Pamela Lee's tits off/And smacked her so hard 1 knocked her clothes backwards like Kris Kross" and trying to decide which Spice Girl to impregnate on "My Name Is" to ''l'm anti-Backstreet and Ricky Martinlwith instincts to kill NSYNC, don't get me started/These fuckin' brats can't sing and Britney's garbagelWhat's this bitch retarded? Gimme back my sixteen dollars" on "Marshall Mathers," part ofEminem's reputation has been built on dropping "toilet humour" lines that make fun ofpop-stars whose music he views as lacking emotional substance. This, 1 think, is more appealing to Em's younger fans because they are references to situations, events, and people from "their world."

96 While the hopelessness that Stan feels is conveyed in a manner that causes listeners to empathize, most of Em's fans are unlikely to have a firsthand understanding of the personal situations (absent father, becoming a parent). After achieving fame, Eminem incorporates the aspect of appropriation in his rhymes; however, he refers to the millions of white teens, once accused of appropriating hip-hop culture, who now sport bleached blonde hair and dress like Slim Shady. In "The Real Slim Shady" Eminem raps, "And there's a million of us just like me/who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me/who dress like me, walk, talk and act like me/and just might be the next best thing but not quite me!" In "Stan" Eminem takes on the persona of Stan, an obsessed fan who wants to be exactly like Slim. Here, Eminem is quite more reflexive and sombre than in the above example: (Eminem as Stan) "see l'm just like you in away/I never knew my father neither/He used to always cheat on my mom and beat her/I can relate to what you're saying in your songs/So when I have a shitty day/I drift away and put'em on." On "KiU y ou" a song where he threatens to kill his mother and any and aU other women, Eminem opens fittingly with "They say I can't rap about bein' broke no more/They ain't say I can't rap about coke no more." As the first full-Iength track on the album, we are introduced quickly to aU of the changes in Eminem's rap style. He no longer targets the individuals from his underground days, but now aU ofthose people who feel that because of his success, the turmoil he described on The SSLP should be over. "Kill y ou," which has become one of the most often quoted "Eminem is bad" songs, however, is not one of Eminem's angry-at-the-world anthems, in fact, it is quite the opposite, delving in a parody world. According to Eminem, the line that starts the song gives "an idea of what the [The MMLP is] aU about. ... The whole idea of this song was to say sorne of the most fucked-up shit. Just to let people know that l'm back. That I didn't lose it. That I wasn't compromising nothing and I didn't change. If anything ... I got worse" (2000: 97). As Eminem has always criticized himself before anyone else can, and from his own experiences as an underground emcee, he knows that his race is the first (and easiest) thing to target. Says Neil Strauss, "[t]here is little that anyone has said about Eminem that he hasn't already said about himself: every complaint leveUed against the [Marshall

97 Mathers LP] is already anticipated in the lyrics and answered" (2001). In his explanation of cultural authenticity, Boyd states that excluded from hip-hop's world are "cultural producers who simply rely on their pop appeal rather than really enhancing the culture" (1997: 14). A large part ofEminem's success is due to this overwhelming status as a pop­ icon, however, both he and Slim Shady have still been welcomed into the hip-hop community. Part of this embrace is due to the conflict Eminem creates through his responses to his own music: "Eminem presents such a grotesquely self-hating and negative image ofhimselfthat i1's almost too obvious ajoke when he mocks the idea that anyone would want to emulate him" (Doherty 2001). One ofthe best tracks from Jay-Z's 2001 The Blueprint, "Renagade," is similar to Eminem's other songs in which he responds to his image. Here, Eminem and Jay-Z trade verses, commenting on their public bad boy images, the kids, and, as usual, perceptions of their music. It is through songs like this that Eminem has built his writing reputation and allowed Doherty to state that "those who think Eminem is merely a moral monster spouting filth must contend with this touching and artful portrait of a mixed-up, hopeless American kid looking to a pop star for succor and friendship - and Eminem's clearly moral response. I1's a devastating and carefully drawn piece of contemporary art." The following excerpt is from one ofEminem's "Renagade" verses:

Since l'm in a position to talk to these kids and they listen l ain't no politician but 1'11 kick it with 'em a minute Cause see they caU me a menace; and ifthe shoe fits 1'11 wear it But ifit don't, then y'all'l1 swaUow the truth grin and bear it Now who's the King ofthese rude ludicrous lucrative lyrics Who could inherit the title, put the youth in hysterics Usin his music to steer it, sharin his views and his merits But there's a huge interference - they're sayin you shouldn't hear it Maybe it's hatred l spew, maybe it's food for the spirit Maybe it's beautiful music l made for you to just cherish But l'm debated disputed hated and viewed in America As a motherfuckin' drug addict -like you didn't experiment?

The problem with society as Eminem points out aptly, arises in the vanous (mis)interpretations of his narrative, be it through the media, his critics, or his fans. Eminem plays upon the mainstream's insatiable desire for hype and scapegoats through his interpretation of Slim Shady, but he himself falls victim to these same narratives. Eminem is quite open about how he came to create Slim Shady. This persona developed

98 partly out of Eminem's warped imagination but also from personal events and the misconceptions that many people hold about inner-city poverty and inner-city behavioural traits. However, Shady's street thug character traits are often relayed to the other personas, Eminem and Marshall Mathers. Thus, despite having separate personalities for his personas, Eminem, Marshall Mathers, and Slim Shady have become a singular entity in the non-hip-hop public eye. On the SSLP, for instance, Eminem and Dr. Dre come together for the track "Guilty Conscience," a c1assic angel-devil story of good-versus-evil, in which the evil Slim Shady eventually wins out over the good Dr. Dre. In it, Shady and Dre "meet up" with three individuals, an of whom are at sorne kind of cross-road (a man about to hold up a liquor store, a boy at a rave party about to sleep with an underage girl, and a man who arrives home from work and discovers that his wife is cheating on him). Throughout, Shady and Dre spit rhymes back and forth either attempting to guide the person to walk away (Dre: "He don't need to go the same route that 1 went") or commit the crime (Shady: "How in the fuck you gonna tell this man not to be violent?"). The song itself is an interesting playon society's conceptions ofblack and white youth from the inner-city. The black OG (original gangsta), who is trying to repent, retums to his evil ways when the white wanna-be-thug pushes him in that direction. (The song ends with Dre surrendering to Shady and advising the jilted husband to kill his wife and her lover.) Despite the obvious levels of race-related parody in this story-based track (a fact that is hardly a secret or difficult to notice), both Eminem and Dre were lambasted in the media for the behaviour they were promoting and became seen as supporting, for instance, the use ofthe date rape drug and spousal murder. Despite appearances, Eminem is quite upfront about his use of parody and play. The introductory track of The Slim Shady LP (he even inc1udes an intro of this nature on The Marshall Mathers LP) is a tongue-in-cheek cautioning of Slim Shady's views and album content, which can be seen as a waming ofwhat to expect on the entire album:

[Announcer's Voice] This is a public service announcement brought to you in part by Slim Shady. The views and events expressed here are totally fucked and are not necessarily the views of anyone; however, the events and suggestions that appear on this album are not to be taken lightly. Children should not partake in the listening ofthis album with laces in their shoes. Slim Shady is not responsible for your actions. Upon purchasing this album, you

99 have agreed not to try this at home. Anything else? [Slim Shady] Yeah.... DON'T DO DRUGS.

Based on this introduction alone should we not be able to recognize the fictionalization that is inherent to The SSLP and thus the Slim Shady narrative? In the sense that he acknowledges how his mainstream success has somewhat affected his deviant image, through this poignant self-ridicule, Eminem resists full integration into the higher echelons of society. As Boyd (1997: 14) explains, "[t]hose who have the strongest sense of cultural authenticity have held the longest-lasting influence over the culture at large. It is the strength of this cultural authenticity, which is challenged but never fully compromised by material posseSSIOns, mainstream recognition, or personal aggrandizement." While Eminem uses dark humour and sarcasm on most of his songs, he also portrays painful emotions. He does this best when he is rapping about the circumstances of his childhood. While Eminem does mention his father in the occasional song, most of his parental scom is reserved for his mother, whom he has often described as a drug­ addicted psychotic. At first, much of what he wrote about his mother was harmless humour. In "My Name Is," he raps "Ninety-nine percent of my life 1 was lied to/l just found out my mom does more dope than 1 do/l told her l'd grow up to be a famous rapper/Make a record about doing drugs and name it after her." On the Marshall Mathers LP, however his mother became the focal point of his contempt towards women. In "Criminal" he mixes parody, humour, and irony into a hilarious attack on his mother and in tum responds to many of his critics who accuse him of being immature and irresponsible:

The mother did drugs - tar, liquor, cigarettes, and speed The baby came out - disfigured, ligaments indeed It was a seed that would grow up to be just as crazy as she Don't dare make fun ofthat baby cause that baby was me l'm a CRIMINAL - an animal caged who tumed crazed But how the fuck you s'posed to grow up when you weren't raised?

Even the song "Marshall Mathers" in which Eminem ponders if fame and money are beneficial, contains an "ode" to his mom: "My fuckin' bitch mom's suing me for ten million/she must want a dollar for every pill 1've been stealin'IShit, where the fuck you think 1picked up the habit/AlI 1had to do was go in her room and lift up her mattress."

100 Em also takes the opposite extreme since much of the sadness on the MMLP is also rooted in the circumstances of his fame. One of the most emotional songs from the MMLP is "The Way 1 Am." Written and produced solely himself, Eminem presents his opinions on just about everything from his feelings about achieving unprecedented fame as a hip-hop star to the way in which he is viewed by those outside of the hip-hop community. Em gives his critics exactly what they asked for when they called upon him to step back consider his content more maturely, however, keeping true to his form, he does so with bitter irony and jabbing obscenities. First, he reflects on his content: "And since birth l've been curse with this curse just to curse/And just blurt this berserk and bizarre shit that works/And it sells and it helps in itself to relieve/all this tension dispensin' these sentences." He also explains where his anger cornes from and what he thinks about the media hype that follows his career: "1 am, whatever you say 1 am/If 1 wasn't, then why would 1 say 1 am?/In the paper, the news everyday 1 am/Radio won't even play myjam." The verse from "The Way 1 Am" that 1 have quoted below is extensive but it interesting since Eminem has packed in a number of important issues. He defends the rights ofmusic performers (here he defends both Marilyn Manson and Eminem) to speak their minds, refers to the Columbine incident and teen bullying, and attacks the allegations of his corrupt nature. As with the themes of many of his other songs, he re­ directs blame to the parents of these children who have "gone bad" because of his shocking music. FinaIly, Eminem indicates that aIl the attention he receives will not deter him from expressing his opinions; in fact, the negativity is exactly what he needs to evoke further controversy in his rhymes:

Sometimes l just feellike my father, l hate to be bothered With aIl ofthis nonsense, it's constant And, "Oh, it's his lyrical content - The song "Guilty Conscience" has gotten such rotten responses" And aIl ofthis controversy circles me And it seems like the media immediately Points a finger at me (finger at me) So l point one back at 'em, but not the index or pinkie Or the ring or the thumb, it's the one you put up When you don't give a fuck, when you won'tjust put up With the bullshit they pull, cause they full ofshit too When a dude's gettin bullied and shoots up his school And they blame it on Marilyn (on Marilyn)

101 and the heroin Where were the parents at? And look where it's at Middle America, now it's a tragedy Now it's so sad to see, an upper-class city havin this happenin (this happenin) then attack Eminem 'cause 1rap this way (rap this way) But l'm glad cause they feed me the fuel that 1need for the fire To bum and it's burnin and 1have retumed

Once again Potter's "playing of the media" cornes through, both on "The Way 1 Am" and on the rest ofthe songs of The MMLP. However, the most noticeable difference between The SSLP and The MMLP is the way in which Eminem plays with the conventions and morals ofthe dominant group in society. The MMLP is thick with parody of everything Eminem went through after the release of The SSLP. This transition he experienced in between the two albums is especially evident on the aforementioned "Criminal" which Eminem begins with a "heartfelt" confession to addresses the assessment ofhimse1fand his lyrics:

A lot ofpeople ask me ... stupid fucking questions A lot ofpeople think that ... what 1sayon records Or what I talk about on record that I actualIy do in reallife Or that I believe in it Or ifI say 1wanna kill somebody, that ... l'm actualIy gonna do it Or that 1believe in it WeIl, shit ... ifyou believe that then l'Il kill you You know why? 'Cause l'm a CRIMINAL

Eminem is seen as a criminal because his "truth" is often seen as the truth when it is taken out ofthe song's context and re-interpreted by members ofUS society. While his deviant status is fictionalized in his lyrical narratives, he relays these stories with such conviction that they actually appear to be real. Since Eminem also combines his real and fictional biographies, he leaves it up to the listener to differentiate when and where he is playin'. As Eminem has also adopted the image of a hip-hop thug through Shady, which further pushes his work into the realm of fantasy, it becomes obvious that his use of parody and play are exactly what propel the content ofhis narratives. Aside from how he responds to this conflict of interpreting his narratives in his songs, Eminem also states in Select that "[i]f a critic calls me a bigot, misogynist pig or homophobic, l'm gonna be that. If your perception of me is fucked up, l'm gone be fucked up. If your perception of

102 me is that l'm a decent guy, l'm gonna show you a decent guy" ("Eminem" 2001: 44). Eminem introduces his book Angry Blonde (2000) with a couple interesting phrases instructing his fans and critics on his own perceptions ofhis personas: "This book is made by Slim Shady, from the mind ofMarshall Mathers as seen from Eminem's point ofview. Got it?" While the division between the three personas is c1ear in his mind, as he indicates, most people do not "get it." His uses of parody and persona are often misunderstood and, as understanding these are tied into appreciating his music, the core parts of Eminem's work are misjudged. The select aspects of the hip-hop style he inc1udes in his rhymes are often reserved for his fictional personas, which help him to address issues around race, belonging, and urban poverty. While aspects ofEminem's rap parody-style have challenged certain misplaced conceptions of hip-hop as weIl as hip­ hop's own conceptions ofitself, unlike previous white rappers who have tried what he has achieved and failed, Eminem exhibits his whiteness as an essential part of his hip-hop figure. Most importantly though, Em shows that "race traits," which define whites and good and blacks as bad are not as concrete as Middle Americans - the dominant group in society - assert through their condemnations ofrap music and hip-hop culture.

Notes 1 The Official Eminem Site 2 1 use the term self-referencing here because Eminem takes on a number of personas that appear on rus albums, Ken Kaniff and Stan, to name two characters. He also impersonates other stars, like Britney Spears, Christina Aguliera, and even former US President Bill Clinton. Eminem's use of aIl personas is an interesting area to explore further, but remains out of the scope of this project. For the remainder of this chapter, therefore, 1will use the term "personas" to refer to Eminem's self-referencing personas. 3 For instance, in the music video for "My Name Is" Eminem impersonates Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. During this section, "Bill Clinton" has just fmished giving a speech as he walks away from then podium, "Monica Lewinsky" emerges from undemeath. 4 Gilbert's Lodge is a restaurant where Em worked before rus deal. 5 Here, Eminem is cross-referencing with the song "Guilty Conscience" from The SSLP, where a character named Grady, discovers that his wife has been cheating on him, shoots both her and her lover to death.

103 CONCLUSION

AIl of the negativity associated with white rappers has changed since Eminem emerged onto the mainstream and hip-hop music scenes. Now white, suburban youth have a representative who is as popular in the ghettos as he is in the suburbs. Moreover, armed with hip-hop credibility gained from his childhood experiences in the inner-city and his connection to hip-hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre, Eminem has invaded white America with catchy, bold rhymes and at the same time has disrupted the American concepts ofrace. Eminem, his personas, and the differing responses to them are useful for examining the ways in which race structures ideas around behavioral expectations. As the research from Crispin Sartwell, bell hooks, Robin Kelley, and numerous others indicate, the American race dichotomy is nourished by negative images of blackness, but white members of the dominant group balk immediately when those same images are superimposed over the "purity" oftheir whiteness. Throughout this study, 1 have examined Eminem's widespread appeal in relation to the race issues provoked by such recognition. As Em's popularity is unmatched by others rappers, it is too easy to assume that his commercial success is marked and defined by his whiteness. While Shady's shrewdness and lyrical complexity are most often lost on his younger fans, music critics and members of the hip-hop nation are weIl aware of Eminem's skills on the mic. Presumably in response to his own experiences with his first album Infinite (1996), Em refuses to rely on these emcee skills alone. While he continues to manipulate the English language cleverly and consistently, he now adds in elements of differing voices and has refined emcee battling and hip-hop's use ofplay. Em's success is further rooted in the addition of a fictional alter ego (Slim Shady) to his personal (Marshall Mathers) and performance (Eminem) narratives that provide him numerous strong narrative backdrops through which to demonstrate his skills. While rap music, as the most recent black threat to white morality, is growing in popularity, hip-hop culture is often blamed for the growing disrespect for societal conventions among white children. Hip-hop has always maintained high levels of popularity with white youth; however, due in part to Eminem's hip-hop success, the culture has aIl but exploded in the suburbs. As my accounts in Chapters 3 and 4 reveal, while the circumstances ofEminem's unprecedented fame are can be related in sorne part

104 to his white race, this same condition is what restrained his success during his underground hip-hop career. Now that he is a megastar, Em's race has taken on an added dimension. It drives his popularity among white youth as weIl as his notoriety among members ofthe dominant group. In assuming the image of a white thug, Eminem exposes many of America's contradictions and hypocrisies and reveals a latent immorality in these same groups that admonish his fictional behaviour. While other rappers have also used the subjects and words he employs, Eminem is the first white rapper to do this with little interference or criticism from the hip-hop community. The unfortunate situation created with this kind of work is that the inflammatory nature of most of his rhymes can cause even the most liberal people to take notice. Furthermore, since he raps so quickly, it is easy to miss the elaborate switches in voice and complexity to his rhymes that he makes use ofduring his satirical moments. Thus, the majority of people do not (or cannot) really "hear" Eminem's rhymes and instead write him off as a social deviant who has made a fortune corrupting the minds of "innocent" children. Em, however, prospers and flourishes under this kind of disapproval. It only further proves his point (as weIl as that of many race theorists) that middle America becomes concerned with about inner-city issues only when they pose a threat to the dominant conventions in society. As l write this conclusion, Eminem's third major-label album The Eminem Show, catapulted to the top of the Billboard charts in just one day and continues to smash its competitors. Scheduled originally for a June 4th release, Eminem's Shady/Aftermath Records label moved the date up, first to May 2S th and then to May 26th (a Sunday), to combat Internet piracy and the bootlegged copies that were floating around the ghettos. With only 36 hours of sales under his belt, Eminem's new album sold 300,000 units and now stands as the first CD to debut at number one without the benefit of a full week of sales. After ten days, the album had moved an impressive 1.6 million copies (compare this with the seven days ofsales for the 1.76 million units for The Marshall Mathers LP). After selling four million copies, the Recording Industry ofAmerica (RIAA) certified the album quadruple platinum in July. Aside from the commercial success, the album is by far Eminem's best work. It is highly complex, more insightful, and thus a complete turn-around from his previous

105 work. Just as The Marshall Mathers LP showed us a more grown up Slim Shady compared to what we saw on The S/im Shady LP, on The Eminem Show, we see a more mature Marshall Mathers. In Chapter 3, 1 quoted Neil Strauss who described Eminem's work on The Marshall Mathers LP as a "self-perpetuation response loop" (2001). He predicted that Eminem would use his next album for further bashing those who criticized The Marshall Maters LP. With The Eminem Show, that is hardly the case. If anything, this new album shows that Eminem is anything but predictable. He has moved beyond his usual angry anthems that attack women, homosexuals, and his critics with scathing words. Instead, he discusses the response to his personas and the mind-sets behind such responses. While there are sorne instances where he is highly critical of women, these references come across as emotional scars from his personal relationships with the women in his life. As this was the kind of content that Eminem usually relayed through his Slim Shady alter ego, Shady, by extension, is practically absent from the album. Aside from "Without Me," most references to Shady are limited to the occasional critical line about Shady's effect on Marshall. The album appears less inflammatory than ms previous . major-label work, and it will be interesting to see what responses Eminem generates from the members ofthe dominant group. However, while he avoids attacking his critics in the usual manner, he also assumes what could be seen as a leftist view of the state of affairs in the US. He is quite critical ofthe way in which Americans have embraced the new war on terrorism wholeheartedly. On "Square Dance," Eminem's most critical political song to date, he gives an Eminem-like salute to the American response to terrorism in the US: "AlI this terror in America demands action/Next thing you know you got UncIe Sam's ass asking/To join their army or what you do for their NavyNou just a baby getting recruited at eighteen." Though he does mention the usual suspects - Lynne Cheney, Tipper Gore, George Bush, freedom of speech, and attempts to censor his work - most of his songs, such as the lead off track, target "White America" ("Look at these eyes, baby blue, baby just like yourself, ifthey were brown Shady lose, Shady sits on the shelf/but Shady's cute, Shady knew Shady's dimples would help") and how perceptions that linger within the race dichotomy place him both under higher public and media scrutiny and in a position for huge success in the white, suburban teen markets.

106 Eminem offers a complex, multi-dimensional portrayal of white existence in an inner-city context. By depicting styles and emotions that range from open rebellion, to destructive self-hatred, and the despair tied in with poverty, Eminem takes his listeners through the joumey ofa white rapper's struggles to obtain and maintain credibility in hip­ hop, using tightly structured narratives and skilled use ofthe English language. While his presence and acceptance in hip-hop have raised many questions ofbelonging, both within the American race dichotomy and the hip-hop community, Eminem continues to re-invent his styles and narratives in relation to the changing context around him. Furthermore, Eminem forces people to confront their latent, often racist stereotypes where black and white men are concemed. As 1 have demonstrated in this thesis Eminem has made significant contributions to rap music, and as such, bis presence within hip-hop's tightly structured walls, cannot, and should not be seen as anything other than positive.

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112 DISCOGRAPHY

Beastie Boys. "Fight For Your Right," Licenced ta Ill. DefJam Recordings, 1986. Bubba Sparxxx. "Ugly," Dark Days, Bright Nights. Beat-Club/Interscope Records, 2001. Eminem. Infinite. WEB Entertainment, 1997. "Infinite" "I1's OK" "Never 2 Far" "Open Mie" "Searchin "Tonite" "313" --. The S/im Shady EP. WEB Entertainment, 1998. "If1Rad" "Intro (Slim Shady)" "Just Don't Give A Fuck" "Just the Two ofUs" "Low, Down, Dirty" --. The S/im Shady LP. Aftermathllnterscope Records, 1999 '''97 Bonnie and Clyde" "Brain Damage" "Guilty Conscience" ''l'm Shady" "My Name Is" "Public Service Announcement" "Rock Bottom" "Role Model" "Still Don't Give A Fuck" --. "Bad Influence," End afDays Saundtrack. GeffenlInterscope Records, 1999. --. The Marshall Mathers LP. AftermathlInterscope Records, 2000. "Amityville" "Criminal" ''l'm Back" "Kill y ou" "Kim" "Marshall Mathers" "Public Service Announcement 2000" "Stan" "The Real Slim Shady" "The Way 1Am" "Under the Influence" "Who Knew" --. The Eminem Show. ShadylAftermath Records, 2002. "Square Dance" "White America" "Without Me" Eminem (ft. D-12). "Words Are Weapons," Funkmaster Flex 60 Minutes ofFunk Vol. IV:

113 The Mixtape. Loud Records, 2000. Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff. "Parents Just Don't Understand," He 's the DJ, Tm the Rapper. Jive/Zomba, 1998. Ice Cube. "1 Wanna Kill Sam." Death Certificate. Priority Records, 1991. Jay-Z (ft. Eminem). "Renagade," The Blueprint. Roc-A-Fella Records, 2001. NWA. "Fuck tha Police." Straight Outta Compton. Death Row Records, 1988. Public Enemy. "Fight the Power," Fear ofa Black Planet. DefJam, 1990. --. "Don't Believe the Hype," It takes a Nation ofMillions to Hold Us Back. DefJam, 1988. Run-DMC (ft. Aerosmith). "Walk this Way," Raising Hell. Arista, 1986. Shabaam Saheeq (ft. Eminem, Kewst, Skam, and A.L.). "5 Star GeneraIs," 12-inch single. Rawkus Records, 1998. Shakur, Tupac. "Dear Marna," Me Against the World. Jive, 1995. Smith, Will. "Miami," Big Willie Style. Sony/Columbia, 1997. --. "Will2K," Willennium. Sony/Columbia, 1999. Smith Will (ft. Dru Hill and Kooi Moe Dee). "Wild Wild West," Music Inspired by the Motion Picture Wild Wild West. Overbook Music/Interscope Records, 1999. Sticky Fingaz (ft. Eminem). "What If1 Was White?" Black Trash: Autobiography ofKirk Jones. Universal, 2001. Vanilla Ice. "Ice, Ice Baby," To the Extreme. Capito! Records, 1990. Xzibit (ft. Eminem). "Don't Approach Me," Restless. Loud Records, 2000.

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